North Africa & Sahara Travel Day on Tuesday 21st November 2006 At the Exmouth Centre, 26 Exmouth Market, London EC1

Coffee will be served from 9.00am First film screening, 9-10.30 am Morning session: 10.30-12.30am Lunch hour 12.30-1.30pm: make your own arrangements amongst the cafes, bars and restaurants on Exmouth Market, though for those bringing their own sandwiches there will be a second film screening Second session: 1.30pm-3.30pm Tea, 3.30-4 pm Afternoon session: 4-6pm Drinks will be served from 6.30pm to launch re-publication of Red Moon & High Summer.

Speakers, writers, photographers and film-makers will be on hand to discuss various aspects of travel and life in North Africa.

Julian Richards will be showing his recent film, With the Nomads and at 6.30 pm there will be the launch party of Red Moon & High Summer with bookshop table, textiles and jewellery (of which at least 10% of price will be donated) to benefit Sophie Sarin’s venture to equip and support a nurse on a pirogue on the Niger river.

TICKETS for the event – which include an invitation to the evening launch party – are £15 per person, please make cheques payable to “North Africa & Sahara Travel” and post to North Africa & Sahara Travel Day, Third Floor, 61 Exmouth Market, London EC1R 4QL

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

Love ‘em or hate ‘em (the Beetle prefers Café Nero in London,) Starbucks is coming to town. Starbucks is planning to increase its long-term store expansion target to 40,000 outlets around the world, more than triple the existing number. They currently have 12,000 global outlets, and envisage that half of the planned 40,000 stores will be in the US and the other half overseas – they are aiming to expand into China, India, Egypt, Brazil and Russia.

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

Spotted by webmaster Paul: the show will appear in Calais 28 September – 1 October) and in Le Havre 26 – 29 October 2006.

Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) is set to launch two low-cost carriers — one for international services, one for domestic — by sometime in the first half of 2007, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun daily.

The move by ANA, Japan's second-largest airline, would aim at competing with other low-cost carriers ahead of a planned expansion of Tokyo's Haneda Airport, which is scheduled to complete a fourth runway in 2009.

US President George W Bush has signed a controversial bill into law that will pay for a 700-mile fence (1,125km) fence along the border with Mexico.

The barrier, equipped with hi-tech surveillance equipment, will be built in areas where many illegal immigrants cross over into the United States. The outgoing Mexican President, Vicente Fox, has called the fence shameful, and compared it to the Berlin Wall.

An outbreak of dengue fever has so far killed 38 people in and around the Indian capital, Delhi. Nearly 3,000 dengue cases have been reported, three of them close relatives of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Health officials are playing down the threat, telling people not to panic and to develop better sanitation.

Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease which affects Indians every year in the weeks following the monsoon, when mosquitoes breed in pools of stagnant water. Dengue is easily cured but can be fatal if not treated in time.

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Washington, D.C. (AHN) – The U.S. Department of State has updated its travel warning for Sudan, citing a “continued threat of terrorism” as the main reasons Americans should steer clear of the country.

According to the warning, Americans should cancel all travel to Sudan “particularly in the Darfur area where there is a continuing buildup of Government and rebel military forces and where violence has increased significantly.”

“The U.S. Government has received indications of terrorist threats aimed at American and Western interests in Sudan. Terrorist actions may include suicide operations, bombings, or kidnappings.”

The State Department explains, “sporadic fighting instigated by militias is often reported in the southern parts of the country. Travel outside of the capital city of Khartoum is potentially dangerous. Threats have been made against foreigners working in the oil industry in Upper Nile state.”

A member of Globetrotters Club? Interested in a £1,000 travel award?

Know someone who is? We have £1,000 to award each year for five years for the best submitted independent travel plan. Interested?

Then see our legacy page on our Website, where you can apply with your plans for a totally independent travel trip and we'll take a look at it. Get those plans in!!

A scheme under which gunmen in the Democratic Republic of Congo are given bicycles in exchange for their weapons is being extended due to its success. Ngoy Mulunda, a pastor in the south-eastern Katanga region, says he has been given some 6,500 weapons in the past year, which he has destroyed. A BBC correspondent says it has proved more successful than the UN disarmament exercise, following a five-year war. The BBC's Jonathan Kacelewa in Bukavu says a bicycle, worth about $50, makes a big difference to the lives of local people.

Recent news comes from Iraqi Olympic officials that the coach of Iraq's tennis team, Ahmed Rashid and two players Ali Hatem and Wissam Adel Auda were shot dead in Baghdad.

Witnesses said the three were dressed in shorts and were killed days after militants issued a warning forbidding the wearing of shorts. Other Iraqi athletes have been targeted in recent incidents.

After years of allegations of corruption, political interference and cost overruns, a new international airport is due to finally open in Bangkok in September 2006. The new Suvarnabhumi Airport is 30km to the east of Bangkok, whereas the old and dark Don Muang is 25km north of the city. Confused? You will be, especially when Don Mang is planned to be designated for domestic flights, so you will have to make the journey across to the new Suvarnabhumi Airport. If you are flying into Bangkok, either internationally or domestically, it is wise to check and double check your place of arrival and departure.

Going to Beijing? Poor farming practices and drought in the expanding desert, which now covers a third of China are believed to be the causes for Beijing's eight sand storm this year. Millions of residents woke to find their city covered in a thin film of yellow dust after the storm blew in from the border of China and Mongolia. Some locals are wearing face masks and hospitals reported increased numbers of patients with breathing problems.

An eight-year-old girl is feared dead in the Northern Territory, in northern Australia after being attacked by a saltwater crocodile. Saltwater crocodiles are the world's largest reptiles, and can be aggressive and dangerous. Police said the aboriginal girl was fishing with her parents when she was snatched from a remote riverbank of the Blyth River, east of Darwin. Saltwater crocodiles are a protected species in Australia, and since hunting was outlawed in the 1970s their numbers have grown: it is estimated there are 70,000 saltwater crocodiles in the Northern Territory. Fatal attacks are rare, though – only six people are believed to have been killed by saltwater crocodiles in the region since 2002.

Going on a cruise around Africa? Maybe just check you are not going too close to Somalia. The Somali coast is considered to be the world's most dangerous waters. The International Maritime Bureau has recorded 41 attacks since mid-March last year. Luxury cruise liners and ships carrying food aid are among those targeted off Somalia in the past year. Hijackings and piracy off have increased in the past year as armed groups take advantage of a lack of law and order in Somalia, which has been without an effective central government since 1991. US Navy vessels have been granted permission to patrol Somali waters to fight piracy. Under the agreement, the US Navy would also develop Somalia's rudimentary coastguard service.

Whilst any help in this troubled region has to be good news for all concerned, the ever cynical Beetle wants to know why the US are doing this – out of the kindness of their heart, or does their presence fit with some other greater plan?

Virgin Galactic has announced that it has signed up more than 150 prospective space tourists, including Dallas star Victoria Principal and Alien actress Sigourney Weaver who have already signed up plus William Shatner who is said to be keen. Five minutes of weightlessness will set you back £114,000.