Spotted by Globetrotter Steve: police in India’s Bihar state in northern India are so short of resources they are using a pack of stray dogs to protect themselves from Maoist rebels. A recent BBC report says that the 24 policemen are spending around 5% of their salaries to feed and keep the dogs who perform street patrols at night. “The dogs patrol and when they start barking we get alert and flash our torch” says one police officer. If you wondered what the newly adopted police dogs eat: the report goes on to say that usually, the dogs are served a mix of rice and pulses twice a day, but they are sometimes given chapattis and there are separate utensils and an open earthen oven kitchen for the dogs.

“We rely heavily on them and they’re very much part of our force to combat Maoists,” said assistant sub-inspector Mirza Matin Beg.

The latest edition of the Lonely Planet Guide to London says that London has become “dynamic and forward-looking” full of great places to visit, eat and stay, chic inner-city neighbourhoods, excellent architecture and is therefore richly deserving of its Olympic success. Previous editions of the London LP have criticised London for being the home of dirty pigeons, lager louts and hotels so awful “they made Fawlty Towers look like a documentary''. London, according to the LP appears to have become revitalized and buzzing. Did you notice?

The LP describes the following areas as being “new hip” neighbourhoods such as Haggerston and Borough/Bermondsey, with their foodie markets and creative communities. Hhhmm. Where is Haggerston?

The Guide says eating out in London is as “diverse, stylish and satisfying” as anywhere in the world and singles out the “dazzling” eating of Marylebone High Street and the culturally diverse Stoke Newington.

The downside: the London LP criticizes decaying districts like “unattractive” Victoria and “plain” Pimlico, while Chelsea has “lost much of its stylish oomph” and Mayfair has become “the first port of call for tabloid paparazzi”. They say that overpriced attractions such as the London Dungeon – “a camped up gothic gore-fest rather more underwhelming than even sceptics might suspect” and “overrated” Madam Tussauds. And here's what all Londoners already know: the Underground remains “horrendously overpriced and crowded in the rush-hour” while the new “Bendy-buses … lack style and grace” and have fewer seats.

It’s a little recognised fact that Australia (as well as the US) is not a signatory to the Kyoto agreement to cut greenhouse gases. Australia’s meteorology bureau has found that 2005 was the country’s hottest year on record, prompting renewed fears of global warming. The average temperature was 22.89ºC – a rise of more than 1ºC from the average in previous years and the highest since records began in 1910.

If you have plans to visit Reunion in the Indian Ocean, be warned that in late Jan 2006, France drafted 400 troops to help fight a mosquito-borne virus there. The troops, already stationed on the island, will join more than 1,500 people already engaged in the campaign to eradicate mosquitoes. Some 30,000 islanders have been hit by the Chikungunya virus since March, and officials say thousands of new cases are emerging every week. If you think you have it – it is not usually life threatening, though there is no cure; symptoms include muscle pain and fever – seek medical help. but is usually not life-threatening.

There are some differences to the Pop Idol that is shown in the UK and the US: contestants can perform in any one of 80 languages, and performance can include telling jokes or dancing, as well as singing. The Simon Cowell-alike judge? He has told some singers that they have voices like donkeys or dogs.

Spotted by Webmaster Paul: CentralPark.com – your first stop for information on Central Park and

The Central Park Zoo. Including extensive event listings, maps, attractions, sports, activities, history and the CentralPark.com store.

Globalbagtag the metal luggage tag people are generously offering a rise in the discount available to Globetrotters from 25% to 40% for our 60th anniversary. Just go to their website and enter the code GLTC into the box on the order page of the website

Need to convert currency?

Take a look at The Globetrotters Currency Converter – get the exchange rates for 164 currencies The Globetrotters Currency Cheat Sheet – create and print a currency converter table for your next trip.

Need help? Want a travelling buddy or advice about a place or country – want to share something with us – why not visit our Mutual Aid section of the Website: Mutual Aid

Carlos from Madrid wants to know if it is possible to take a cheap courier from Spain to USA. If you know the answer or can help Carlos, please e-mail him on: elnotax@gmail.com

Once when diving in the Maldives, the Beetle noticed the boat captain looking very interested in some strange rank smelly stuff floating on the surface of the ocean. “Whale vomit”, he said, “ambergris,” and proceeded to scoop it up in his arms, so after a while I helped him. Now I know why.

Recently, an Australian couple who picked up a 14.75 kg lump of ambergris from a quiet South Australian beach are going to get richer as ambergris is worth up to $20 a gram. Initially, ambergris is a soft, foul-smelling waste matter that floats on the ocean. It is expelled from the tummy of the giant sperm whale as a digestion aid, to get rid of things like the beaks of squid that they cannot digest. After 10 years, it's considered clean and it turns into a musky sweet perfume which is why it is worth a lot of money to perfume manufacturers.

If you have a travellers tale that your aching to tell. Then why not visit the “Travel Sized Bites” section of the Website and share it with the world. Travel Sized Bites

According to Contactmusic.com, actor George Clooney is urging fellow Americans to travel more outside their country and experience the complexities of the rest of the world. Clooney wants Americans to make more effort to learn about alternative cultures. He believes lack of global understanding is responsible for international conflict. He says: “Locations inform what we do as actors. Here we are in Morocco and three times a day a siren goes off and everyone stops their cars, gets out in the middle of the street, kneels down and prays. We are dealing with a passionate belief system and anyone who thinks you can bomb that ideal out of them needs to travel more. I just wish more people in our country travelled more. They'd learn a lot about how hated we are.”

Whilst Vietnam has more recently hit the news in connection with Paul Gadd better known as Gary Glitter's guilty conviction, there's good news that gives Vietnam greater tourist access.

Vietnam will build a USD$158 million international airport on its southernmost island Phu Quoc island off Kien Giang province near Cambodia next year to boost tourism. The airport is planned to open in 2008 and a port for cruise ships would also be constructed on Phu Quoc in 2007. While Vietnam still maintains a heavy military presence on the northern part of the island, around 100,000 tourists, including 40,000 foreigners, go there each year. Despite the spread of bird flu which has killed 42 in Vietnam, the Southeast Asian country is estimated to have received 3.47 million foreign visitors this year, a rise of 18.4 percent over last year, government statistics show.

Any of you e-newsletter readers run or are in involved with a travel agent operation should note that the .travel internet domain name has been established. 16,162 companies have signed up in the name's first 16 weeks of operation including the likes of British Airways, Marriott, Carnival Cruise Lines and Disney.

Unlike the better known .com name, companies registered as .travel will have to be verified operations concerned with travel and tourism to combat cyber-squatters and help to give the industry a unified presence on the web. It is also hoped that the .travel suffix will help consumers searching for travel related products on the internet.

Thinking of going on a cruise? The owners of the Queen Mary 2 have said that they will fully refund around 1,000 furious passengers after the world's largest cruise ship missed three ports of call, Barbados, St. Kitts and Salvador, Brazil on a voyage from New York to Los Angeles because of an accident where it hit the side of a Florida shipping channel, damaging a motor and reducing its speed. Passengers, for some of whom their cruise was a once a lifetime trip, threatened to hold a sit in until the owners reimbursed them in full.

Travel Photographer of the Year competition judges, the professional photographers Nick Meers and Chris Coe are running four travel photography master classes over the next three months, which will allow photographers to refine their skills before heading off travelling this summer. Globetrotter members get a £25 discount.

There are two, two-day courses, at Huddersfield (March 12/13) and Elstree (March 15/16) and two, three-day courses, to shoot the Cotswolds at Easter (April 15/16/17), and Forest and Coast in the New Forest (May 18/19/20).

The two-day interactive seminars – aimed at all levels – cover practical and creative photographic techniques, compositional techniques and presentation, and digital optimisation of images, together with vital but often overlooked skills such as editing, selecting and cropping travel images for different uses. In addition Nick and Chris will spend time reviewing and critiquing each photographer’s work.

Prices start at £265.00 (excl. accommodation) for the two-day courses, rising to 3410 (excl. accommodation) for the Cotswolds at Easter course, but TPOTY is offering a £25 discount for

Globetrotters members. TPOTY is also taking bookings for a 12-day master class covering photographing Landscape,

Wildlife & People in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa (April 30 – May 12).

Further information is available on

www.tpoty.com or by emailing

masterclass@tpoty.com or calling 05600 431762.

As we reported back in 2005, French President Jacques Chirac campaigned hard for an international tax on airline tickets to help fight global poverty. Now the French government has approved the levy which will range from EUR1 to EUR40 (USD$1.18 to USD$47.20) on flights from France, depending on distance travelled and the class of ticket.

The levy will takes effect from 1st July. The French government hopes that in France alone, the tax will generate EUR210 million (USD$248 million) a year. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged other governments to follow France's lead though the plan has encountered resistance in the United States – not surprising when the US will not sign up to the Kyoto Protocol.

The plan has also failed to win widespread backing in Europe and upset airlines, which fear higher fares will drive away passengers. It has, however, been adopted by Chile and the Chilean President Ricardo Lagos said in September last year the measure had been approved in his country and would go into effect on January 1, when a USD$2 charge would be added to tickets on all outgoing flights from Chile.

A human bird flu pandemic could ground up to 70 percent of aircraft, Virgin Group boss Richard Branson has said at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos.

“If it happens, an airline is going to have 50 percent of its planes grounded, maybe more – 60, 70 percent,” he said. The only positive would be a fall in fuel costs: “It will certainly bring down oil prices with a thump.”

Air travel is expected to be in the frontline should the H5N1 strain of bird flu become easily transmitted between people.

Air travel was crucial in spreading the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, virus around Asia and to Canada in 2003.

“Statistically, there is about a 6 percent chance that in any one year of the next 10 years this becomes a person-to-person problem, and we just have to hope it is not this year,” Branson said.

Seniors and baby boomers over 55 planning a holiday in New Zealand or Australia, can now purchase a discount travel and shopping card – New Zealand Seniors Card. There are currently over 2,500 discounts available including hotels, tourist attractions, cruises, tours, coaches,

ferries and shops. Savings range from 10% to 50% off and the cost of the card is only $29 NZ (around £11). For more details or to join on-line at www.seniorscard.com or email: info@seniorscard.co.nz

Passed on by Globetrotter Committee member Francesca, a new company has written to us. They organise walking holidays in “4 stunning and pleasingly unusual areas of Europe… with charming accommodation in traditional, upland villages.” They are currently running a free prize draw to win a holiday for 2 for 7 nights in Italy's beautiful Majella region.. checkout the homepage on their

website: www.uplandescapes.com

The offer is open until 31 Mar 2006.