Traveling to Christmas? Something for you... by Ivana Bruderova

As a Christmas time is still closer, thousands of people are preparing to travel. Everyone wants to be with his family or those who are the closest to his heart in this special time of year. That's why several airlines call attention to don't forget common rules when you are going to travel by plane. Here are some of this which you should obey to make your travel as smooth as possible. You must to be careful as packing your suitcase because each passenger is allowed to two pieces checked baggage free of charge weight no more than 50 pounds each, and measured length + height + width, no more than 62 inches. Don't forget to put your name, flight number and itinerary inside the baggage too, in the case of lost your luggage by the airlines, the return will be much easier. Passengers may carry on board one bag that fits in the overhead bin or under the sea + one more personal item. As everyone have registered Transportation Security Administration (TSA) limit the amounts of liquids, gels and aerosols you can take on board. Each item have to be three ounces or less and be in the clear zip-top bag. When you want to avoid unpleasant surprise and safe time of wrapping your gifts twice, leave it better unwrapped in your bag. TSA personnel could unwrap it to check it's content. Before leaving airport don't leave at home all important documents, passport, visas tourist cards and other as well as it's copies. And let one set of copies to have those who stay at home. 24 hours before leaving, you can print your boarding pass which can reduce your stress and make you feel more comfortable before your flight. Very helpful is to check your arrival and departure times, gate and luggage information via e-mail or telephone. Very important is to arrive to the airport in time, about 90 minutes before, at domestic flights and 2 to 3 hours before international flights. When you are coming to the airport don't forget possible traffic jams or another complications. After arrival you should write your parking location to some piece of paper or the best is to make a photo with your camera. Nothing comfortable to return home and spend hours with searching your car. When you are at the airport, and did everything according previous recommendations prepare your documents to move through security quickly. Take all large electronic items such as laptop out of their cases. After pass through security you can buy some beverages which you can take with you to the plane. Remember to safety of your children. Make sure they know all names of parents and how to contact them. You can have some kind of code which know only you and your children, to prevent kidnap. At last be on the gate 30 minutes before departure. On the board don't forget drink lots of liquids, and if something is wrong don't be shy and let the flight attendant help you. Merry Christmas and enjoy your traveling!

by Ivana Bruderova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

An expensive Olympics by Claudia Sonea

If you want to go to the Olympics in August I recommend a large tent and finding a camp site, because the hotels will dry you out. According to China newspapers hotel rooms raise their normal prices up to 10 times and the normal prices are not that cheap either. Penny Xiang, who works on accommodations for the Beijing organizing committee related more on the subject trying to ease people's preoccupations. Xiang revealed that hotels are using a tactic to drive up rates and that is why prices for rooms during the August 8-24 games have skyrocketed. The owners want to sell the rooms at a good price but the market is not sure yet, so it is typically for Chinese to just wait and see what will happen. For the few hotels that have already signed contracts the prices were not that high. Furthermore, a rule in economy says that when the supply is higher than the demand, the price is bound to restrain, therefore because there are too many hotels in Beijing offering more rooms than requested the prices will eventually get to a more reasonable level. Beijing has 300,000 hotel rooms of which 30,000 rooms at 120 topflight hotels have been reserved by the organizing committee and held under contract for Olympic officials, sponsors and dignitaries. The organizers paid $380 a night for a standard room at a five-star hotel. The expected demand for rooms is around 250000, where as the supply is 270000. In consequence there will be still 20000 rooms remaining and people can choose from a variety of offers and the prices will downgrade regarding if indeed there will that many Olympics fans. Nevertheless, neither the organizers nor city officials would step in to set prices. A good thins it that hotels no longer require to book a room for a period of 18-20 days, it can be only five days and Beijing organizers are also holding 20,000 rooms in the Olympic and media village. The city expects 500,000 non-Chinese to visit Beijing during the 17-day games, with about 1 million domestic tourists added to the total. I advice you to wait and see or at least buy a tent you never know when it comes on handy.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20071211/ap_tr_ge/travel_brief_beijing_hotels;_ylt=AnpB_zaqPSbgj4GvWg_uLses0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

Internet on a board of plain in US by Ivana Bruderova

o travel by plane is nowadays absolutely nothing special. Traveling like this is considered to be one of the most comfortable and mainly the fastest ways how to move from one place to another. Although, in some countries, there was always something missing. JetBlue Airways Corp. will start to provide limited e-mail and instant messaging on a board. Due to the bandwidth constraints of laptops and handhelds using Wi-Fi, the General Web surfing and e-mail attachments won't be permitted. This will be limited to messaging from Yahoo Inc. Brad Garlinghouse, Yahoo's senior vicepresident for communications and communities said, Yahoo designed special lightweight versions of services for JetBlue. This system is available for owners of two types of BlackBerry- the 8820 and Curve 8320- that have Wi-Fi wireless capabilities. Tuesday's flight 641 from New York to San Francisco is planned as a debut of this system. The Airbus 320 is specially designated "BetaBlue". Of course, there will be some restrictions about using Internet during flight, for instance is baned to use it when a plane is taking off or landing. In the past, similar services provided by Boeing Co. used connection via satellites. Boeing cooperated with the largest carriers companies such as Germany's Lufthansa AG., Japan's Airlines Corp, Singapore Airlines, etc, but the US had especially after September 2001 negative attitude. New system JetBlue will use about 100 ground towers. It has less capacity but is much cheaper. In-flight acces appreciate especially business travellers, howewer the fact they can e-mail only from Yahoo would be limiting for them. For those less demanding it can be very likable way how to survive some "endless" flights.

by Ivana Bruderova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

Danger in the air by Claudia Sonea

On Wednesday congressional investigators revealed that due to faltering federal leadership, malfunctioning technology and overworked controllers there is the risk of a catastrophic collision on U.S. airport runways. Although the Federal Aviation Administration reduced runway safety incidents from a peak in 2001, in time their efforts lost the initial intensity as a consequence of the number of incidents settling at a lower level and finally this year budget that ended on September 30 showed a shocking number of 6.05 incidents per 1 million air traffic control operations that was very close to the one in 2001. The Government Accountability Office said in a report requested by Rep. Jerry F. Costello, D-Ill., and Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J. the charge of assessing the causes of runway safety problems is not assumed by anyone and that led to the fill of the blank by former Federal Aviation Administrator Marion Blakey in August who held a conference with the purpose of finding quick actions. Two months later FAA reported progress on recommendations from the conference improving runway markings and pilot training. However, GAO recommended more leadership from the FAA, better data collection and less overtime required of controllers. Lautenberg lays the entire blame on Bush administration and its indifference to passenger safety. FAA responded to the report with figures and said that it has reached its goal of reducing the most serious incursions by almost 25 percent in 2007 and the overtime can be solved through stepped-up hiring. Laura Brown, the spokesperson of FAA, contradicted Lautenberg and said that their priority is passengers' safety. Still, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on aviation says the FAA acts only under the spot light and also together with Democratic Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota, the full committee chairman, urged quick approval of a House-passed FAA bill that would provide $42 million for incursion reduction and $72 million for runway lighting; require an FAA runway safety and technology plan; and force the FAA to reopen contract negotiations with controllers. The struggle between GAO and FAA continues with the FAA imposed contract on the controllers' union in 2006 that complemented by cut controller staff to respond to traffic pattern changes from airline mergers and bankruptcies is considered to be the main cause of fatigue. To reinforce this believe comes not only the fact that experienced controllers have retired much faster than the agency predicted, but also the incidents on August 16 with two commercial jets, on July 11 (Delta Boeing 757 touched down in Fort Lauderdale) and on July 5. Indeed FAA has not made a safety plan since 2002 and sings the same tune of being safer than ever. If they want to avoid bankruptcy on passengers expensive, something must change and Bush administration should stop reject the solution suggested by Costello. Don't go away, more news on the matter soon.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20071206/ap_tr_ge/travel_briefs_runway_safety;_ylt=AtTNZzrBRYa0B.YeU30giHis0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

A holiday to remember by Claudia Sonea

This year China seduced many tourists in spending their holiday in the tiny gambling enclave of Macau, a territory that was under Portuguese ownership until 1999 when it was returned to China. However the choice proved to be one of the worst and ended with a riot against tour guides and even against the police. Around 2.4 million tourists traveled to Macau since October and nearly half of them were from mainland China, according to government figures. The points of attraction are easy to be seen due to the fact that big-name U.S. casino operators such as Las Vegas resort owners Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn develop the retail and gambling industry. Moreover, Macau combines European heritage (Portuguese language and several U.N.-declared World Heritage sites) and Chinese culture. Everyone that decided to spend the holiday there has suffered a tremendous shock, but the blame falls on both sides: tourists have been too aggressive and the police shouldn’t have used force to calm down spirits. The conflict was created because the local guides took the tourists to see too many shops and they missed the purpose of their visit: the historical sites in the territory. It seems a problem of communication that should have been solved diplomatically by the two sides involved, nevertheless police officers were sent to deal with the matter which involved more than 100 tourists, according to police spokesman Pun Siu-tong. The tourists did not receive the peacemakers very well and injured one officer after which they surrounded the police car preventing them from leaving. In consequence more than 40 police armed with riot gear and batons were then dispatched to handle the situation, said Pun busting the rumors that the police were from Macau's riot squad. Official figures showed that four police officers were injured, while five tourists were charged with creating a public disturbance and confronting police. All in all, police is not completely guilty for the incident that damaged the territory's reputation as Macau lawmaker Antonio Ng presents it. For something so easy to solve like guides there was no need for brutality or strike. Tension has finally showed that we are indeed fragile when it comes to temper. Angry and unhappy tourists coming to relax and enjoy broke down and lost their calm. How the famous rapper Eminem says it: temper, temper!

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20071205/ap_tr_ge/travel_brief_macau_angry_tourists;_ylt=AvYZq0tBz7BY3m8v.h44gb2s0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

Tragical air accidents. by Zuzana Valkova

Everyone thinks that flying is the safest way of traveling. Everyday there are thousands accidents on the ground. Every year is killed over million of people in car accidents. Planes are crashing only time to time. That is not stimulative, but better than nothing. When you are traveling by plane, it is 10 times safer than driving your car; it is almost as safe as sitting in the pub with your friends. Numbers don't lie. Flying is safer. But there were many really big plane accidents in the past, and I wanted to know which one was the worst. The biggest collision took a place on beautiful island Tenerife. In 1977 two Boeings crashed on the runway, when KLM Airways plane was taking off and Pan American plane was taxiing. This accident killed 583 people. Second biggest crash was flight of the Japan Airlines Boeing in 1985. After structural failure and loosing most of the hydraulic control, the plane crashed into the mountain. 520 people died and 4 survived. Third one was mid air collision of two planes, one of the Saudi Arabian Airlines and the second one of the Air Kazakhstan. The crash happened over the small village in India in 1996. This day died 349 people from both planes. 346 people died in the fourth biggest accident in the history. McDonnell Douglas plane exploded shortly after taking off from Paris in 1974. There were many accidents like this in history. I know they look terrible. At one time are killed so many people. But these kinds of accidents are not happening everyday. Car accidents are.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20071206/ap_tr_ge/travel_briefs_runway_safety;_ylt=Aokb.gsUtxoziLy5DgRPSWCs0NUE

by Zuzana Valkova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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Ireland as a tourist destination by Daniela Simkova

Ireland has registered the highest annual number of tourists in entire history. Seamus Brennan, a Tourism Minister said: "As we approach the end of 2007, all the indications are that we will enjoy another record year for Irish tourism." Ireland is visited mostly by tourists from the central Europe, neighboring Britain, and the visitors from The United States. Though the neighboring Britain slightly decreased a number of incoming tourists, other countries have increased the number of visitors. The number of tourists was increased by 4.0 percent as for the comparization to the last year's tourism. Even if the number of visitors from the Britain decreased to 3.46 million, the number of people coming from Europe thumbed to 2.23 million. The number of American visitors jumped nearly to 1,000,000 people. Ireland experienced a tourist record this year. About 9,000,000 people have visited Ireland this year. Some came because of the job opportunities and others just for fun to do some sightseeing and have nice memories. Ireland was pleased especially about the American tourists, because they usually stayed longer, hired a car, traveled across the Ireland and spent more money. Could the competition of the two Ireland's biggest airlines cause this strong surge of tourists? The Ryanair has extremely extended direct links from Ireland to various European destinations as well as the other biggest airlines Aer Lingus. There is a high probability that tourists were driven by different flight opportunities in choosing their holiday destination. The Ministry of Tourism in Ireland plans to spend a $73 million on marketing. Mr. Seamus Brennan would like to promote Ireland overseas as a tourist destination.

by Daniela Simkova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

Airline Trouble by Eva Matova

Huge delays of flights have spoiled the celebration of Thanksgiving to many American families. According to the Transportation Department, the October's situation had been the second worst on record of airline industry's on-time performance. The number of customer complaints arose from 629 complaints recorded last October to 1096 this year. As the Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters reported on Monday "tough scrutiny and a willingness to impose serious penalties have caused the airlines to correct these chronically delayed flights". The government and the Federal Aviation Administration promised to pay attention to this problem. One of the possible solutions could be a new, satellite-based air traffic control system, which is recommended by the airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration. The system would cost about $15 billion and it would take about 20 years to complete the improvement. The government prefers alleviation of the delays by reducing JFK's flight limit by 20 percent. This solution is not suitable for the airline industry's trade and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the owners of the JFK, though. After all the trouble, there is at least one number which had improved; the rates of mishandled baggage dropped from 7.5 reports last year to 5.4 reports per 1000 passengers.

by Eva Matova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

Pay if you have Spilled by Barbora Kasparova

Humans contribute to the devastation of the environment in many ways. There are things that we can predict (such as global warming or growing of waste material), yet there are accidents we do not anticipate such as oil spills. And since the nature can neither deal with them itself nor can sue the culprits for damages, as those who are responsible are not always willing to take the blame, there are ways people do it "in her name". A very recent case is the one of Cosco Busan oil spill earlier this November, when the company owning the ship Regal Stone Ltd. of Hong Kong, the insurer and the pilot of the ship are being sued by the U.S. federal government (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/01/MN90TM5R4.DTL&hw=oil+spill&sn=006&sc=407). What's the legal side of the story, i.e. on what basis does the government in that particular case sue? We still remember the infamous Exxon Valdez case in 1989. In response to this catastrophic accident, the US Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act in 1990 (OPA 1990), which sets the framework for any lawsuits in the field. What it basically provides for is the liability of the owner, or the operator of the ship for removal costs and damages, in other words, anyone who feels that they suffered harm and were forced to incur costs due to the oil spill can go right ahead and sue the company. (http://www.itopf.com/spill%2Dcompensation/national%2Dregimes/)

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20071130/ap_tr_ge/travel_brief_antarctica_ship_sinking;_ylt=AqVmQdsDgVP5HK5AuDh5sGCs0NUE

by Barbora Kasparova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

Why is Peking opera loosing fans? by Jana Kokavcova

In some years before opera was very popular genre among people from all classes, but there were only some that have enough money and famous status in upper class to be a part of audience in theater. Opera seems to be something noble, something not so ordinary, something more...But is it really? Opera is not for everyone, but everyone should know something about this kind of art. Yes, it is really easier to watch a television, go to the cinema to interesting film or funny comedy, but I think, it is important to know only a little about opera. Maybe Peking opera is something really different. Peking opera is traditional Chinese theater that combines music, vocal, acrobatics , mime and dance. This kind of art was popular in 19th century extremely in the Qing Dynasty. The Peking opera is regarded as one of the cultural treasures of China. But not only in China people know about this theater. This art form has spread to another countries too. Now is Peking theater well-known in Japan, United States and Taiwan too. Many people enjoy this traditional kind of Chinese theater, because it brings something new in their lives. But there is one problem. Young generation is not very keen on this genre. Why is it so? Because the same reasons that they have to ordinary opera. Some prejudices. Opera is really hard to understand, it is boring, not very funny ... Maybe the new theater building will help to trap new people to see what's new in opera. Peking opera could be very funny and costumes are amazing. So this is really good reason to try it and go to such as performance and enjoy. Maybe it will be so interesting for you that it become new afternoon's activity on Sunday for another months.

related story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus

by Jana Kokavcova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.