The Chief Executive Tony Davis of Singapore based low-cost airline Tiger Airways said that they want to be the Ryanair of Asia. Tiger Airways flies from Singapore to Macau, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, competing with Malaysia's AirAsia and a partnership of Valueair Ltd and Qantas Airways associate Jetstar Asia. Tiger is 49 per cent owned by Singapore Airlines.

Alligators have clashed with non native pythons before in Everglades National Park. A 13 ft long python tried to swallow a 6 ft alligator whole and then exploded. Scientists have documented four similar encounters in the last three years. The encroachment of Burmese pythons into the Everglades could threaten an $8 billion restoration project and endanger smaller species, said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor. The gators have had to share their territory with a python population that has swelled over the past 20 years after owners dropped off pythons they no longer wanted in the Everglades. The Asian snakes have thrived in the wet, hot climate. “Encounters like that are almost never seen in the wild – and we here are, it's happened for the fourth time,” Mazzotti said. In the other cases, the alligator won or the battle was an apparent draw.

Terminal 5, whose sole tenant is British Airways is due to open on Sunday, 30 March 2008. The £4.2bn project is intended to bring some … to your transit. Never mind the passenger experience; your baggage will have a first-class journey. Amazingly, Terminal 5 is said to be Europe's biggest construction project.

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

Spotted by Webmaster Paul, here's a satellite photo from Google of York Minster:

A report from Malaysia's Star newspaper gives examples of how soaring fuel costs are impacting on air fares in certain instances. They gave two examples: a return ticket to Colombo, Sri Lanka from Kuala Lumpur costs RM400 but the fuel surcharge is RM450. Another bargain – a two-night return package to Bangkok from KL on Thai Airways costs RM399 but the fuel surcharge, airport tax and insurance will cost an additional RM323. With the rising demand for oil and hurricanes hitting the United States, world oil prices are not expected to come down in the near future. One Malaysian travel agent commented: “It looks like the days of cheap air travel are over as the high fuel prices are here to stay.” Another agent said: “Some of the fuel surcharges are so expensive that they make a mockery of their special cheap short flights from KLIA to regional destinations like Jakarta and Bangkok.”

The US businessman and scientist Gregory Olsen is the third person to pay to be a space tourist, after American Dennis Tito in 2001 and South African Mark Shuttleworth in 2002. If you have something in the region of £11m ($19.3m) to spare and are fit, perhaps you could apply too.

A recent survey of Americans indicates that international travel, particularly for leisure, continues to rise. A record number of nearly 62 million U.S. travellers went abroad last year, up 10 percent from 2003, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Interestingly, while the number of Americans who travel outside U.S. borders is climbing, the number of those
who have passports remains at a low 20 percent.

An estimated 21 million Americans will travel to and from the Caribbean,

Mexico and Bermuda this year. They are not required to have a passport – now. However, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 requires all Americans to have a passport by 2008 to re-enter the United States from any other country in the Western Hemisphere. The first two phases of the initiative include the Caribbean, Bermuda, Mexico, Canada and Central and South America. This will create an enormous increase in demand for passports.

Pilots of a chartered jet carrying 289 Gambian soccer fans faked the need to make an emergency landing in Peru so that passengers could watch their nation's team play a key match. The plane, claiming to be low on fuel, landed in Peru's northern coast city of Piura, where Gambia played Qatar in the FIFA Under-17 World Championships later that night. The fans were allowed to watch the soccer game in Piura, which Gambia won 3-1. The fans apparently would have been late or missed the game if the flight had first gone to its scheduled destination of Lima, 550 miles to the south. “It truly was a scam,” said Betty Maldonado, a spokeswoman for Peru's aviation authority, CORPAC. “They tricked the control tower, saying they were low on fuel.”

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: “Because your first trip to Tokyo can be like going to another planet.

Planet Tokyo is here to guide you through the culture shock that many western travellers experience upon arrival in Japan. If you're planning a trip, or just hoping to learn something new and interesting in this western traveller's guide to Japan” http://www.planettokyo.com/

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has agreed that work on an underwater dam to try to save the lagoon city of Venice from floods will go ahead, despite increasing calls for it to be halted because of environmental damage. Work on the project known as Mose, Italian for Moses, began in 2003. Designers hope the construction of underwater barriers will protect the fragile canal city from the ravages of the sea. The project aims to construct 78 flood barriers, 20 metres (65 feet) wide and up to 28 metres (92 feet) high, that will be fixed to the bed of the sea at points where Venice's lagoon meets the Adriatic. Venice's mayor Massimo Cacciari, supported by environmentalists and Venetian elders, had asked Berlusconi to consider other measures, arguing the barriers would cause as much damage to Venice as they prevent. The World Wildlife Fund Italy has said that shutting Venice's cargo port and barring cruise liners from entering the lagoon would be more effective in controlling the waters. There are also concerns about the cost of the scheme.

An independent media watchdog group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, (CPJ), says press freedom was under siege in every corner of the globe last year. The CPJ says Iraq remained the most dangerous place in the world to work as a journalist in 2004. In its annual report, entitled “Attacks on the Press,” the CPJ said 56 journalists were killed worldwide last year as a direct result of their work.

At least 23 journalists and 16 media support workers were killed in Iraq last year. Another 22 journalists were abducted while trying to report on the Iraq conflict. 122 journalists were imprisoned in 2004, three-quarters of them in just four countries – China, Burma, Eritrea, and Cuba.

Eight journalists were murdered in the Philippines last year, allegedly for criticizing the government or reporting on corruption.

Eleven journalists have been killed in contract-style killing since President Vladimir Putin came to power.

Zimbabwe was named one of the world's worst places to be a journalist because of the government's continued crackdown on private media and Bangladesh was found to be the most dangerous county in South Asia for the media.

Philip recently contacted us to say that he is an English producer currently putting together a film about British citizens who are or have been imprisoned abroad. Perhaps, you remember someone who planned something, or in a moment of madness decided to do something, that ended up with a prison term?

They type of story I'm looking for is one about people – 'normal people' faced with a life-changing opportunity and who were possibly convinced it was going to work out? Was it all going to plan when suddenly it went wrong – ending in the shock of going to prison? If you think you've even heard of a story – possibly where somebody remains in jail abroad, I'd be extremely grateful to hear from you. I can be contacted on: philip@rawtelevision.co.uk

The Danish Air Force admitted last month that it paid about $5,000 in compensation to a part-time Santa Claus whose reindeer died of heart failure when two fighter jets roared over his farm. The reindeer, named Rudolf, was grazing at the farm of Olavi Nikkanoff in central Denmark when the F-16 jets passed overhead at low altitude earlier in the year. The reindeer collapsed and died, leaving Nikkanoff with only one animal pulling his sleigh next Christmas. Mr Nikkanoff complained to the Danish air force, which agreed to compensate him for the cost of the reindeer and veterinary expenses. “We got a letter from Santa complaining about his reindeer's death and looked into it seriously,” air force spokesman Capt. Morten Jensen said. The air force checked flight data and veterinary reports and concluded the planes had caused the animal's death. Mr Nikkanoff said he would use the money to buy a new reindeer before Christmas.

China has announced the completion of the first railway line from Golmud in China's north-western province of Qinghai to Lhasa, in Tibet. The line is expected to start taking passengers in 2006. This is one of the world's highest train routes, at 5,072m (16,640ft) above sea level. Trains travelling on the line will have to have carriages that are sealed like aircraft to protect passengers from altitude sickness. The workers who built the line had to breathe bottled oxygen in order to deal with the high altitudes.

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 tagged great white shark (called Nicole, by researchers – after shark loving actress Nicole Kidman) crossed the Indian Ocean from South Africa to Australia and back again in just nine months. The act of tagging a great white is something of an achievement; several people need to hold the creature still while the satellite tracker is attached.

The conservationists were investigating how far great whites swim, to see what protection measures might be needed to save them from extinction. Great whites were once thought to keep to coastal regions, but this was a trek across a vast expanse of open ocean. The journey was very direct, not some aimless wandering and the stay near Australia was only brief.

The researchers say the fact that they saw a shark make the journey at all – after observing only about 20 animals – suggests it is common behaviour. Their concern is that such migrations make the great whites vulnerable to long-line fishing. It is already known that lesser sharks do get captured and killed this way.

Spotted by Webmaster Paul, here’s a satellite photo from Google of the Tower of London

A recent ruling by Iran’s football federation banning players from sporting “unusual” and “foreign” styles is sparking debate in Iran’s football community. The Federation also said professional players should refrain from curling their hair or wearing ponytails, and from sporting necklaces, earrings, or rings and that players should not wear tight clothes, grow strange-looking beards, or copy foreign styles.

The ruling has upset football players like Ali Mansourian who shaves all his hair off, while some of his fellow athletes on Iran’s Esteqlal team have grown their hair long. “In my opinion, the appearance of a player is his own business,” Mansourian says. “If you look at Islam, for example, the Prophet Mohammad’s hair was long. He was very handsome.”