Tourism

• Friday, January 16th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Third year running LAN, best airline in C. and South America

  

  For the third year in a row the prestigious magazine Global Traveller awarded LAN Chile as the 'Best Airline in Central and South America.' The magazine surveyed more than 31,000 readers of the publication to select the best in class for luxury and business travel throughout 2008. This distinction is the direct result of the feedback received in the survey.

• Tuesday, January 13th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Wildlife in Falklands Scotland School linking program

  

  Education officers from Edinburgh Zoo have headed to the Falkland Islands to teach local children about Scottish wildlife, according to a report from the News Scotsman.

• Friday, January 9th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Qatari leading Dakar Rally in Argentina disqualified

  Dakar Rally leader Nasser Al Attiyah has been kicked out of the gruelling event for missing too many mandatory way points. The BMW driver from Qatar, who won the first and third stages of the 2009 rally in Argentina, led the overall standings by more than seven minutes.

• Friday, January 9th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Plan to encircle Rio's favelas triggers controversy

  Plans to surround a Rio de Janeiro favela (slum) with a 650-metre-long concrete barrier have come under fire from environmentalists, human rights activists and residents who describe it as “discriminatory” and in the best “Gaza wall” style.

• Friday, January 9th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Falkland Islands: Weekly Penguin News Update

  

  Headlines: MBE for dedicated music teacher; Kayakers set out to circumnavigate the Islands

• Wednesday, January 7th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Dakar rally in Argentina claims motorcyclist life

  French motorcyclist Pascal Terry has been found dead after being reported missing on Sunday during the second stage of the Dakar Rally which was relocated to Argentina and Chile for its 31st edition.

• Wednesday, December 31st 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  NY becomes US number 1 tourist city with 47 m. visitors

  

  New York City attracted an estimated 47 million visitors and $30 billion in total spending in 2008, both record highs according to figures released by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and confirming the Big Apple as the projected number one tourist city of the United States.

• Tuesday, December 30th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Dakar rally spirit invades Buenos Aires ready for launching

  

  More than ten thousand people and 500 vehicles turned up on Monday in Buenos Aires, for the official launching of the 2009 Dakar Rally, which for the first time will be disputed outside Africa and takes off next January 3 from the Argentine capital covering 9.600 kilometres of Argentine and Chilean territory.

• Monday, December 29th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  EU Court rules airlines must compensate for technical problems

  Airlines must pay compensation to passengers whose flights are cancelled because of technical problems with the plane, European judges ruled this week.
  
  The only exception, said the European Court of Justice, is if the technical problems are caused by “extraordinary” events outside the normal activities of the airline - such as terrorism or sabotage or a hidden manufacturing fault which suddenly comes to light.

• Monday, December 29th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Damien Hirst Mexico vacation with SAS bodyguards

  Damien Hirst, the British artist with a personal fortune estimated in excess of 300 million US dollars has hired four personal bodyguards who are all former members of the SAS, British special forces.