The government of the United States is reported to have spent $4bn fighting Colombia's cocaine trade since 2000. It has been doing this by spraying fields of coca with chemicals, destroying the crop. The US government justifies this by saying it is helping to stabilise Colombia, where a civil war, funded by cocaine profits, has raged for decades.

The Head of the US Office of National Drug Control Policy said: “The terrorist groups are weaker… they are receiving less money, murders are down, kidnappings are down”. But now, a recent US govt. survey has found that an extra 26% of land under cultivation and that production is more dispersed.

In 2004, 114,100 hectares (440 sq miles) were found growing coca; in 2005, in the same area, cultivation had fallen to 105,400 hectares, however, the survey area was expanded in 2005 by 81%. In this new area, a further 39,000 hectares were found growing coca, making 144,100 hectares in total, an increase of 26% overall.

Critics of the spraying policy say that coca production was not going to be reduced just because fumigation flights spray some fields, as long as these farmers don't have any other economic options, except to cut down forests to grow coca somewhere else. There's also the matter of demand for cocaine remaining steady. The US has also found that production is also increasing in Peru and Bolivia. Similar spraying is taking place in Afghanistan, justified on similar grounds.

Spotted by Mac: Here is a web site www.economist.com/cities to get travel information, local time, weather, insider tips, useful words & phrases, currency conversion etc etc about such world cities as Dubai, Johannesburg, Berlin, Tokyo, Mumbai, London, McCool Junction, Nebraska etc. Useful resource to plan trips.

A Japanese man last week recovered about $42,000 in cash that his wife had mistakenly thrown out with the rubbish/trash.

He had been hiding the money in a trash container, explaining that he routinely hid cash in various places so it would not be stolen by robbers, the Associated Press reported. But his wife was unaware of the scheme and threw the money away, according to the Reuters news agency.

A sanitation worker who found the cash reported it to police. After seeing news reports about the incident, the man contacted police, who verified that he was the owner from details on the envelope and returned the cash.

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.

British insurer, Norwich Union have just compiled a study based on more than 60,000 claims made with the insurance company, during 2005. The research indicates that visitors heading to the south-east Asian kingdom of Thailand face the highest risk of suffering theft, food poisoning or being caught in a traffic accident. Ireland was deemed the safest place to travel to, closely followed by Belgium and the Netherlands. Germany and France were also considered to be low-risk holiday destinations for British tourists. The Caribbean was revealed as the worst place for insect bites and stings and South Africa came out worst for violent robberies and bags going missing in transit.

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

I am thinking of driving around the world and wondered if anyone else has done this trip in the club. I'll be taking my own car and I can see a few problems arising but will do it anyway. Getting started is always the hardest. Trying to get information on how best to get out of Australia is my main issue at present. Any advice most welcome, best wishes to all, <a dutchkiwy@hotmail.com

Which web browser do you use? Amnesty International is urging UK users of Yahoo, Microsoft and Google to e-mail the companies asking them to change the way they operate in China. Amnesty says the Yahoo, Microsoft and Google are colluding with internet censorship in the still Communist state of China. Amnesty is asking them to reveal which words they have banned from blogs or web searches in China. The three internet companies on the other hand say they are helping the people of China by making information more freely available, but Amnesty says they are helping to reinforce censorship by the Chinese government. Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen said: “Yahoo, Microsoft and Google claim they are obeying local laws when in fact they are succumbing to political pressure. “We want them to hear from customers here in the UK. If enough people tell them they are not happy with their actions in China, we hope it will make them think again.”

In 1950 Mao Zedong ordered the Chinese takeover of Tibet resulting in communist troops marching into and occupying Tibet to enforce its claim on the tiny country. Since 1979 there has been economic reform, but no political reform, like the rest of the China.

From Beijing's perspective, the area has been part of China for centuries, but for many, the Chinese government is an occupying power which has shown little regard for human rights or for Tibet's unique culture. Some PRC policies in Tibet have been described as moderate, while others are judged to be more oppressive. Most religious freedoms have been officially restored, provided the lamas do not challenge PRC rule.

Foreigners can visit most parts of Tibet, and it is claimed that more unpleasant aspects of PRC rule are kept hidden from visitors. According to the Beijing authorities, they are erecting a huge 35-ton statue of Chairman Mao Zedong in in Gonggar County, near the Tibetan capital Lhasa, Tibet to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the former leader's death. The statue will rise 7m from a 5m pedestal strengthened to withstand earthquakes and is scheduled for completion in July.

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

“Ugly Koreans” is a media-coined term referring to people caught buying sex or committing crimes overseas. Officials in South Korea recently proposed a foreign travel ban for citizens who have committed misdeeds overseas, in an attempt to protect the nation's image. The proposed travel ban on “ugly Koreans” was contained in a recent foreign ministry report to the presidential office, ministry officials said.

“In case their illegal or shameful acts are reported overseas, we are planning to restrict their travel to foreign countries for a certain period of time,” a ministry official said. South Korean laws already say that citizens can be denied passports for up to three years if they have been expelled from a foreign state for violating the law. In July 2005 Vietnamese television reported that police detained 28 South Koreans in a single day for buying sex at a Korean-owned salon. Police in Shanghai arrested 17 South Koreans in February for involvement in running a “host bar” where men were hired for sexual services. Authorities are planning to step up a separate campaign to educate people about internationally accepted etiquette.

You heard it here. The third annual “Pig Olympics” have been held in Russia. 12 piglets from seven countries took part in the games, which included pig-racing, a short run where their trainers ran behind encouraging them to go faster, pig-swimming and pigball where the pigs chased a ball covered in yummy fish oil. Pig enthusiasts laid bets on the competitors in each event, at an exhibition centre near Moscow. Contestants included Mykola from Ukraine, Nelson from South Africa, and the home favourite Kostik Russisch Schwein.

The Russian foreign ministry urged Russian citizens on Friday to defer travel to Nepal for personal security reasons. “The internal political situation in the Kingdom of Nepal has recently deteriorated,” the ministry said. “Mass demonstrations against the government accompanied by acts of violence have spread over the country.”

The Foreign Office has advised “against all but essential travel” to Nepal because of enhanced tension in the Himalayan country.

Three people have been killed and hundreds injured as police opened fire on crowds. There have also been hundreds of arrests.

The Foreign Office (FO) warned there was a risk of visiting Britons getting caught up in violence on the streets.

“Those British nationals already in Nepal should decide whether their presence there is essential,” the FO said. “We will keep this advice under close review.”

News in July comes form Kenya that hundreds of flamingos have been reported dead in Kenya's Lake Nakuru wildlife sanctuary. Experts believe that the flamingos died due to chemical pollution from surrounding industries. Over 1.2 million flamingos are under threat and fears have been expressed over the extinction of the Lake, which is drying up due to environmental degradation and dwindling flows from

several rivers that drain into the Lake.

Yahoo! Inc said it has launched a travel service that promised to find the best deals on airfare and hotels. The 'Yahoo Farechase' website differed from a travel service in that it scoured internet websites to compare prices being offered online for flights or lodging, according to the Sunnyvale, California-based firm. 'This is the first time a search engine for travel pricing and a search engine for travel experiences have come together in a single product,' said Jasper Malcolmson, director of Yahoo Travel. Tools on the site allow people to create itineraries, map routes and share insights gleaned from their travels.

Two Italian tourists remain captured when an off-road touring group of more than 20 Italian and other foreign tourists were been kidnapped in southeast Niger. The group were kidnapped in the desert zone near Lake Chad on the border with Chad. This zone is described by a Niger spokesman “as very porous (Chadian) border”. The area near Lake Chad where the party was ambushed is notorious for banditry. Three years ago, more than 30 European tourists were captured by suspected militant Islamists in the border region of Niger and Algeria and had to be rescued in an operation by the Algerian military.

Oasis Hong Kong Airlines is Hong Kong's first low fare, long-haul passenger airline. Starting in October 2006, Oasis Hong Kong Airlines will offer non-stop service to London-Gatwick. It initially plans to offer flights to London, Chicago, Cologne, Berlin, Oakland and Milan but hopes to fly to 15 destinations by 2011. This could mean bargain basement fares between London and Hong Kong, and maybe even apply some pressure to the likes of BA and Virgin Atlantic who are expected to reduce their prices to deal with the competition. The Beetle: please don't let it be a Ryanair type operation – I'm waiting for the day when Ryanair travellers have to put a £1 coin in to use the toilets on board. Now there's an idea, Mr O'Leary…

The Japanese government recently disclosed that there is now a greater proportion of elderly people in Japan than anywhere else in the world. Last year's Japanese census show that the number of people aged 65 and over reached 21% (27m), overtaking Italy for the first time. What's more, fewer and fewer people are finding partners; almost three out of five women in their late twenties are unmarried, and a third of those in their early thirties. About half the men in the same age group have not found a wife. The ratio of children under 15 is also lower than anywhere else in the world. Matchmaking services have even been launched by local councils to try to help people to marry.

Are you an avid cyclist? Love the Algarve? This should interest you: the President of the Junta Metropolitana do Algarve recently announced that 214 km of the Ecovia do Litoral (Coastal Eco-Road) should be finished by approximately March 2007. Initially the route was devised for cycle tourists, but covers any type of non-motorised transport, the Ecovia do Litoral will connect the Algarve from point to point, starting in Cape St. Vicente, in the Municipality of Vila do Bispo, it passes all the cities of the Algarve coastline and finished in Vila Real de Santo António.

The first Qinghai-Tibet train from China's capital Beijing to Tibet's capital Lhasa has arrived after a two-day 1,140km (710-mile) journey. The journey is said to be the world's highest train journey reaching a massive 5,072m (16,000 feet)- oxygen is pumped into the carriages to help passengers deal with the high altitudes. China says the line will bring major opportunities to a poor region, that will “hugely boost local development and benefit the local people”, but critics fear it will be used by China to assert its control over an already contested border region and that the railway line threatens not only the delicate Himalayan environment, but also the ancient Tibetan culture.

A Canadian couple visiting the San Francisco Bay area have a lot to thank an honest Good Samaritan who found and returned a bag the Canadians accidentally left in a park. The bag contained about a million dollars' worth of jewellery and thousands in cash. According to local newspaper, the Toronto Star, the bag belonged to the wife of a Toronto dentist. She and her husband were in Northern California to attend their daughter's wedding, and misplaced the purse when they stopped in a park in Sausalito, a popular tourist town with a spectacular view of San Francisco. The Good Samaritan, 56-year-old respiratory therapist John Suhrhoff, told the newspaper that he sees nothing unusual in his actions. “Every person I know or associate with would have done the same thing,” he said. “I'm glad to be able to help.

Fanny Amun, the acting secretary-general of the Nigerian Football Association, said bribery happens frequently, but referees “should only pretend to fall for the bait, but make sure the result doesn't favour those offering the bribe Nigerian soccer referees can feel free to take bribes as long as they don't let the bribes influence their calls.

Strangely, Nigeria has been rated as one of the world's more corrupt nations, and football does not appear to be an exception. This prompted The Beetle to Google the world's most corrupt countries. According to Transparency International's 2005 listing, the most corrupt country was Chad, followed by Bangladesh, Turlmensitan, Myanmar, Haiti, and, wait for it…

June saw the Kuwaiti women voting for the first time… Women can vote and stand for election in four of the six countries in the largely conservative Gulf Arab region. They are banned in Saudi Arabia, which is an absolute monarchy, governed according to a very conservative interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, under which women's rights still remain limited; they are, for example, not permitted to travel unaccompanied by male relatives or allowed to drive. There are no political elections in the United Arab Emirates.

Spotted by one of Mac's friends: Mormon women in New South Wales are knitting sweaters for penguins.

Doll size, tight-fitting wool sweaters keep this breed of “fairy” penguins warm as they recover from exposure to oil spills off coastal Australia, dramatically raising their survival rate. (Photograph courtesy of the Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints)