A US travel warning was recently issued to American nationals visiting Kenya advising them to evaluate their personal safety situation in light of terrorist threats and increasing incidents of violent crime. In a response similar to that issued recently in South Africa concerning spiralling levels of crime and violence, Kenyan Tourism Minister Morris Dzoro and Government Spokesman Dr. Alfred Mutua said the advisories would not affect tourism or any other sector of the economy. “What we know as a government is that there is no place in the world that is secure. There are worse things that happen in American and European cities than what is happening in Kenya now, so it has not mattered before and doesn’t matter now and it will not matter.”

He went on, “When you consider the number of criminal attacks that are in cities such as New York or Los Angeles where people are killed in gang warfare, now that is another thing,” said Mutua in his weekly briefing. “It does not mean that Kenya is a place where there is rampant insecurity and nobody is safe. Issuing travel advisories in terms of a few acts of thuggery in our country is totally unfair.”

What do you think?

BEIJING (Reuters) – A Chinese man has been sentenced to death for conning people out of 3 billion yuan ($387 million) in a giant scam to breed ants, local media said Thursday. Wang Zhendong, from the north-eastern province of Liaoning, fabricated a business purported to be making wine, tea and medical elixirs using mature ants, the Beijing News said.

In parts of China, black ants are sold by the bagful to be steeped in tea or soaked in liquor as a natural remedy for ailments such as arthritis. Wang sold packages of ants to the investors for up to as much as 10,000 yuan ($1,290) when they were only worth 200 yuan, China Central Television reported.

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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

Anyone any suggestions for Arjun? He write in to us: I am from Kolkata, India with a great dream to travel the entire world. But my financial condition does not allow me to make it happen. Yet I will try someday to make my dream come true. Please give me some ideas on how can I make it possible. I have mountain trekking experience in the Indian Himalaya. I can be contacted by e-mail on: sahaarjun77@rediffmail.com

Another request for information from Lena: I will be travelling by myself to Dajeerling, North India. How can I co from there to Nepal? Is it safe to travel there and travel alone? If you have any information please respond. Is it possible to enter China from this part of India.? What about Sikkim and Buthan? I am a teacher and a photographer and I would like to travel and take photos. I do not have much experience travelling in Asia. Last year I went to Kolkata to volunteer in a school and then I went to Darjeeling for a short time. This time I would like to travel more and I would value any suggestions from you. If you think you can help Lena, please e-mail her on: lenainavon@comcast.net

If travelling in Pakistan and worried about the absence of alcohol, look no further. Whilst Pakistan is predominantly Muslim, about 97% according to one source, which does not approve of drinking alcohol, the Murree Brewery Co Ltd (established in 1860 to produce beer and spirits, mostly for British colonial troops) is set to produce a 20-year-old single malt whisky. The malt whisky is due to go on sale in July to non-Muslims and its makers are not expecting huge sales. Mr Javed, the General Manager proudly announced, “Our product will match the best Scotch whiskies in the world.”

A row is brewing over the renewal of the Singapore Airlines advertising contract, worth in the region of SGD$50 million (USD$33 million). The current image projected by Singapore Airlines in all their ads is of an Oriental girl wearing a tight fitting sarong kebaya uniform, created by French designer Pierre Balmain. Singapore Airlines have said that it will not give up the iconic image and uniform of its Singapore Girl flight attendants. Critics say it is sexist and outmoded and the images are passé and largely intended to serve male passengers’ fantasies of desirable, subservient Oriental women.

Royal Nepal Airlines has apologized to Peru after mistakenly putting a picture of Peru’s tourism icon, Machu Picchu, on a poster under a slogan “Have you seen Nepal?” This was noticed by Peruvian mountaineer Ernesto Malaga, who was visiting India last month, and saw the poster hanging on a wall in the airline’s office in New Delhi. Peruvian authorities requested explanations from the airline via the embassy. “The airline … offered apologies to Peru for using the picture of the Machu Picchu Sanctuary on a poster to promote their country and assured that the lamentable error has been corrected,” the statement said.

In this e-news, we have Nepal advertising Machu Picchu, more news of mistaken identity – this month Serbia’s first PR campaign since the end of the Balkan wars in the 1990s has gone horribly wrong. The commercial called “Serbia – Moments to Remember” which was not received well by Serbians for being boring, misleading and showing Serbia as a land of rolling hills, churches and nature reserves full of wildlife, but no people. Worse than that, CNN used the soundtrack for a Kazakh tourism ad as backing music o the Serbian advert by mistake. Serb viewers also spotted that one medieval church featured prominently in the ad was not Serbian but Romanian, on the wrong side of the Danube river on Serbia’s eastern border. Officials said they will edit the commercial to highlight the fun side of Serbia, including the vibrant cafe culture and nightlife of the capital Belgrade.

A recent American survey of over 2,000 gay travellers, 21 and older, found that San Francisco was the top “gay-friendly” destination, followed by Key West, Fla.; New York City; Fire Island, which is part of Long Island in New York; Provincetown, Mass.; Los Angeles; Miami-South Beach, Fla.; Las Vegas; New Orleans, and Palm Springs-Palm Desert, Calif. Nearly half of gay and lesbian travellers said that whether a destination has a “gay-friendly” reputation matters when they are making leisure travel choices. A place where “they can hold their partner’s hand in public” without fear of harassment was cited as an example of something that more than half of gay men and more than two-thirds of gay women look for when they are choosing a destination, according to the survey.