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.”

Helvetic Airways has begun operating a twice-daily service between Luton and Zurich. The first 10 seats on each morning and evening flight are available from about £15, plus taxes, from www.helvetic.com

Environmentalists have announced that the Mediterranean’s largest nesting population of loggerhead turtles is facing extinction due to tourism. Their reports states that one of only two marine turtle species that reproduce in the Mediterranean, would face extinction unless the authorities took more steps to control tourism in the region.

The Greek island of Zakynthos is home to the National Marine Park, where between 800 and 1,100 turtles nest every summer. Officials have been accused of failing to implement sufficient regulations to prevent tourists from disturbing the turtles that hatch at the height of the tourism season in August. The Worldwide Fund for Nature monitored the park this summer and found that thousands of tourists placed their sunbeds and umbrellas beyond authorised limits on the beaches. Illegal bars, tavernas and parking areas also lined the shores, disturbing the turtle settlements, according to the report. Three years ago the Greek government was found guilty under European Union law of failing to protect the animals. But, despite the ruling, tourism has continued to damage the population, according to this week’s WWF report.

You can now hire Gems, or Global Electric Motorcars in Cordoba, southern Spain as a safe, convenient, and environmentally friendly way to see the town. Gems are made in the US by a division of Daimler-Chrysler. A fully charged car can travel around 50 miles, (80km). Each car comes with a touch-screen computer system mounted in the dash. By using GPS technology, the computer keeps track of exactly where you are in the city. When you pass a certain landmark, the computer then knows to display the appropriate text, audio and video information about that landmark on the screen. Through a USB port, you can plug in a flash drive containing information on Cordoba in Spanish, English or French. Hire costs are around US$50 for a two-hour rental period.

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.

If you are sailing around the world, you’d be advised to avoid Somalian water. Somali pirates have hijacked (another) ship with 10 crew on its way to the Somali port of El-Maan. The MV Torgelow was carrying fuel and food to a UN-chartered vessel freed last week by gunmen who had held it and its cargo of food aid for three months. The International Maritime Board says there have been at least 20 attacks on ships in Somali waters since March. It urges ships in the area to stay as far away as possible from the shore.

Travel Facts

One in three adults aged 15-49 are infected with HIV/AIDS in Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Swaziland.

If you thought Antarctica was inhospitable, think again – its land area is only 98% ice. Reassuringly, the other 2% is categorised as ‘barren rock’.

The Mall in Washington, D.C. is 1.4 times larger than Vatican City.

Moldova has one of the lowest rates of movie-going of any nation, and the highest rate of death by powered lawnmower. Coincidence? Surely not.

In 2002, every 1000 Swedes made a bus.

· Looking for geniuses? Head straight to Iceland. There are more than 3.5 Nobel Prize Winners for every million Icelanders.

· People might eat oats when they’re hungry, but people from Hungary don’t eat oats.

· Japan’s water has a very high dissolved oxygen concentration – but not enough to prevent drowning in the bath.

· The four largest nations are Russia, China, USA, and Canada.

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US scientists have found that all modern varieties of potatoes can be traced back to a single source – a potato grown in Peru over 7,000 years ago. The team, led by Dr David Spooner of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who spends two months a year collecting wild potatoes on treks in South America’s mountainous regions analysed the DNA of about 360 potatoes, both wild and cultivated. Dr Spooner said archaeological finds had shown potatoes were being grown in Peru by farmers “more than 7,000 years ago”. Potatoes were brought back to Spain by the conquistadors around 1570, and spread throughout Europe. They were later introduced in North America by British colonists.