The Kyoto Protocol is the only global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, though its attempts at reducing emissions and the effects of climate change are limited. The world’s biggest polluter, the United States, has rejected the protocol and it is not binding on emerging boom economies such as India and China. According to the US Environment protection Agency, in 1997, the United States emitted about one-fifth of total global greenhouse gases.

The UK has signed up to the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol and agreed to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent by 2050. Great news – except that a recent study conducted by Oxford University’s Environment Change Institute for the government-funded UK Energy Research Centre states that CO2 emissions from aviation in Britain are set to surge by between four and ten times 1990 levels by the middle of the century, accounting on their own for two-thirds of the government’s emission target for that year.

Therefore, the study says, the UK government must curb the huge expansion in air travel or risk overshooting its self-imposed target. UK government policy, however, is currently actively promoting airport expansion which could see passenger numbers more than double from 200 million to 470 million a year by 2030. “Unless the rate of growth in flights is curbed, the UK cannot fulfil its commitments on climate change. It has to undertake demand management. Relying on technological fixes alone is totally unrealistic,” said a spokesperson for the study.

Golf, once frowned upon by China’s Communist Party, is now enjoyed by the country’s rich and powerful, and has grown in popularity in recent years. News comes from the China Daily newspaper that golf lessons are going to be made compulsory for some students at Xiamen University in Fujian province. The president of Xiamen University in south-east China was quoted as saying it would help produce “socially elite people with the best education”. Those majoring in management, law, economic and software engineering courses would “be required” to take the course, reports. One critic accused the university of “vulgar elitism.”

Bradt Travel Guides are holding a pub and travel quiz with other travel companies at various UK venues. Below are some of the destinations: Tue 7th Nov ’06 in Oxford at Smollensky’s, 17 Park End Rd, Oxford, OX1 1HU. Thu 9th Nov ’06 in Manchester at Stanfords, 39 Spring Gardens, Manchester, M2 2BG. Wed 15th Nov ’06 in Glasgow at O’Neill’s Pub, Merchant Square, 71 Albion St, Glasgow, G1 1NY. Sun 19th Nov ’06 in Edinburgh at The Chancer, 30-32 Bread St. Edinburgh, EH3 9AF. Wed 22nd Nov ’06 in Norwich at the Gardener’s Arms, 2-8 Timber Hill, Norwich, NR1 3LB. Thu 23rd Nov ’06 in London at the Hammersmith Ram, 81 King St, London, W6 9HW

Neil Harris writes in to say: buying foreign currency from a high street bank or travel agency either involves a hefty commission or a poor rate of exchange. I’ve found the best rates for popular currencies are to be found in Oxford Street. On the way to the last Globetrotters meeting I got $1.85 to the pound at the KM Cash Booth that sits at the end of a souvenir shop at 53 Oxford Street. At the time the Post office were offering around $1.78. Both are commission free. I have used this exchange many times and trust them, there are similar exchanges nearby. I believe these prices are a reflection of the poor exchange rates that they can obtain through a bank.

Spotted by Webmaster Paul, this is an excellent source of low cost air travel from the UK and includes many airlines, especially charter airlines that the Beetle has never heard of. So if you are in the UK and want to take a break, this is an excellent resource; if you are travelling to the UK and would like to take some side trips, this cold help you book some very cheap trips from the UK to Europe and beyond.

Take a look at Who Flies Where?

A new Netherlands study of blood clots has shown that travelling for more than four hours by air, car, bus or train can all increase the risk of blood clots, with air travel no worse than the others. The Dutch team studied 2,000 people who had suffered a venous thrombosis — a blood clot in a vein — for the first time. They found that 233 of them had travelled for more than four hours in the eight weeks preceding the event. Travelling doubled the chances of having a venous thrombosis. The hazard was greatest in the first week after travelling, and the overall risk of flying was no worse than that of going by car, bus or train. Particular groups of people, especially women on the Pill, were more at risk than others, and the risk was increased almost tenfold for people who were obese, and fourfold for individuals who were more than 6ft 3in (1.90m) tall. And if you are short, like the Beetle, the researchers found that being shorter than 5ft 3in was associated with a fivefold increased risk of thrombosis after air travel.

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.

Globetrotters interested in travel writing have two inspiring opportunities to learn this November with Travellers Tales, the UK’s leading travel writing and photography training agency. We’ll be in Granada, Spain, with best-selling author Chris Stewart (‘Driving Over Lemons’) on November 18-20; and in London with Wanderlust editor Lyn Hughes on November 14-16. Both courses include writing practice, feedback on your work, and insiders’ advice on how to get published. Full details from www.travellerstales.org.

In January, 2007, our Legacy co-ordinator Jeanie Copland will be taking part in an ascent of Mt. Kilimanjaro, 5895 metres, to raise money for VSO and would welcome your support. (All Jeanie’s expenses to Africa and the trek itself are self-funded).

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

Did you know that Australia is suffering a drought, now in its sixth year, and the worst in over a century?

Australian farmers have been hardest hit, forced to make a living sometimes in very harsh conditions, raising emaciated cattle. The severe drought has led to an alarming increase in the number of suicides among farmers, now at twice the national average.

According to the Australian national mental health body Beyond Blue, one farmer takes his life every four days. The group has called for psychologists to tour agricultural areas to combat anxiety, stress and depression. Australian Prime Minister John Howard tried to address the growing problem of rural poverty by announcing a $263m aid package for farmers.

A German art student briefly fooled police by posing as one of China’s terracotta warriors at the heritage site in the ancient capital, Xian. Pablo Wendel, who is studying in China dressed up, very convincingly, as an ancient warrior and jumped into a pit showcasing the 2,200-year-old pottery soldiers, standing still for several minutes. He was eventually spotted by police and removed from the scene. “I got to the area where he was supposed to be, looked around and didn’t see him – he looked too much like a terracotta warrior,” Hong Kong newspapers quoted a security guard as saying.

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

A report from Amnesty International from Guatemala: Amnesty’s latest report cites police figures which show that 229 women and girls were killed in Guatemala in the first six months of 2006. Many of the murders were exceptionally brutal, with the victims suffering sexual violence, mutilation and dismemberment. Amnesty says that it knows of only two convictions out of 665 murders of women in 2005. The Guatemalan government appears to be slow in investigating. Up to 70% of murders of women are not investigated and no arrests are made in 97% of cases, Amnesty says. Contrast this to the response of the Thai government when a British girl was murdered on a beach in Phuket – in this case, the police may have appeared to be over zealous, and maybe their motives were influenced by the cost of adverse publicity to the country’s tourism coffers, but even so. A similar problem is happening in Mexico with the killing of street boys and girls.

UN officials and aid workers say that millions of North Koreans will face famine and starvation during the country’s winter if the international community cuts off humanitarian food aid in retaliation for their government’s nuclear test. Before the recent test explosion the people of North Korea face a food crisis after a long-term decline in foreign food aid and summer floods that killed hundreds and washed away fields of rice and wheat. Aid communities fear that a cut in aid could lead to a repeat of the famine of the late 1990s when up to three million are estimated to have starved to death.

Does no-one realise that N Korea’s mad despot leader, Kim Jong Il simply does not care what happens to the people of N Korea? Sanctions are not an effective way to curb the mad and despotic powers of a crazed megalomaniac.

Dubai’s ruling family says a legal case filed against it in Miami in the United States for allegedly enslaving thousands of young camel jockeys is without foundation. The law suit accuses Dubai’s ruler, his brother Hamdan and 500 others of being involved in trafficking and enslaving young children from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan and Mauritania.

The case alleges that tens of thousands of boys as young as three were kept in poor conditions against their will and forced to take part in camel races. The Dubai family say they have overhauled the sport, banning the use of child jockeys and have been helped by Unicef in providing a rehabilitation programme for the child jockeys. It has been illegal to use children as camel jockeys in the UAE since 1993, but only recently has the law been rigidly enforced. When the new racing season begins in November, remote control robots will ride the camels in place of jockeys.

British comedian Sacha Baron who plays a fictional TV reporter called Borat has been invited by Rakhat Aliyev, Kazakh first deputy foreign minister and a powerful son-in-law of President Nursultan Nazarbayev to go to Kazakhstan to see the truth for himself. No doubt the Kazakh authorities have invited the comedian TV reporter to show him that their country is not a nation of horse urine-drinking misogynists.

The Central Asian state’s Foreign Ministry threatened Cohen with legal action last year after he hosted an international music show as Borat, who arrived in an Air Kazakh propeller plane controlled by a one-eyed pilot clutching a vodka bottle. The Kazakh authorities shut down Cohen’s www.borat.kz site, prompting a move to a new homepage, www.borat.tv. Rather him than the Beetle who would be afraid of being boiled alive or something equally unpleasant.

The US State Department Mozambique’s recently announced that Mozambique’s 670km long railway line, Sena Railway, which has not been used for 20 years, has been cleared of mines and unexploded ordnance laid in 1984 by insurgents during Mozambique’s civil war.

The railway connects Mozambique’s main port city, Beira, with its resource-rich interior. The US State Department should know – they have invested $13 million in the clearance project, which took just over two years to complete. The Government of Mozambique believes that once operational, the railway will enable the country to tap into its valuable resources such as gold, copper and diamonds. There is no indication when trains may start running again.

When wearing a money belt, first make sure it is cotton and machine washable, they can get awfully hot snug under your clothing. Secondly, use one of those small oblong plastic wallets you often get from Forex bureau’s to keep your money in, inside your money belt as sweaty money is both unattractive to handle and also to feel against the skin.

Reuters recently reported that in Miami, Florida, a leaping spotted eagle ray stabbed an 81-year-old Florida boater in the chest, leaving its poisonous barbed sting lodged close to his heart in an incident very similar to the one that killed Australian TV naturalist Steve Irwin last month. The grandfather of two survived.