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.

Burma's military rulers have extended the detention under house arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Ms Suu Kyi has spent 10 of the last 16 years under house arrest. Despite appeals from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Ms Suu Kyi is to remain in detention. Burmese officials would not say how long her house arrest has been extended for.

If you've been to Tanzania or Kenya, the chances are you might have drunk or at least seen two famous beer brands that sell millions: Serengeti and Kilimanjaro. Serengeti is synonymous with conservation and like Kilimanjaro, is an internationally recognisable symbol. A dispute is brewing (sorry!) iver companies that use these faouns names but do not contribute towards the places themselves.

“We feel that, since they are using these names to make money, they should also contribute to the upkeep of these places because if they deteriorate for whatever reason, it means that this will impact on their products as well,” says Gerald Bigrube, director-general of Tanzania's National Parks Authority. The national parks have asked lawyers to investigate whether they can trademark the names of natural resources.

Globally, more than 130 people have died of bird flu since late 2003. Most of the deaths have been in East Asia, but the virus has also spread to Europe, Africa and South and Central Asia. Indonesia has recorded its 42nd human bird flu death, bringing the country level with Vietnam as the worst affected by the disease. Indonesia has registered more bird flu deaths this year than any other nation. In contrast the outbreak in Vietnam now seems to be under control, due to a large culling and vaccination drive and no Vietnamese deaths have been recorded in 2006. Indonesia has been criticised for its reluctance to cull fowl in infected areas – a measure that experts say is the best way to stem the spread of the disease, but the government says it does not have enough money to compensate farmers.

A New York doctor suspected of blowing up his own $6.4m Upper East Side house to prevent his ex-wife benefiting from its sale after their divorce has died from his injuries. If that wasn't tragic enough, neighbours are now suing the doctor's estate for damages they say were caused to their property by the explosion.

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.