Here’s a little Beetle quiz based on capital cities. See how many you get right! Go on, have a guess!

What is the capital city of the following countries:

1. Angola
2. Cyprus
3. Laos
4. Nepal
5. South Korea

For the answers, see at the end of the e-newsletter.

Under 30? A member of Globetrotters Club? Interested in a £1,000 travel award?

Know someone who is? We have £1,000 to award each year for five years for the best submitted independent travel plan. Interested?

Then see our legacy page on our Website, where you can apply with your plans for a totally independent travel trip and we'll take a look at it. Get those plans in!!

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

We reported a while back about Dubai’s Palm, an ambitious hotel and resort development off the coast. Now, tourism and government authorities have gone one step further, or should we say under. A 220 suite hotel is planned to open in three years’ time off Dubai in the Persian Gulf. The Hydropolis Hotel will be made from strengthened plexiglass, concrete and steel able to withstand being placed at around 30 metres below the surface of the sea. The route to the hotel will be through a 1,700 ft transparent tunnel on a shuttle train.

This will be the world’s second under water hotel. The first, the Jules Verne Underwater Lodge can be found in Florida.

Win a Frommer’s guidebook on Amsterdam 2003. See www.frommers.com for info on Frommer’s guidebooks.

Some people have said the quiz is difficult, we say do some research; try google.com or Ask Jeeves, if you need help with the answers.

The winner of last month's Moon Guide on Fiji is Eileen Hobson.

Fourteen of the European hostages, missing in the Sahara for over five months have been released by suspected Islamic extremist kidnappers. One woman hostage died whilst held captive in Mali. The tourists – nine Germans, four Swiss and a Dutchman are reported to be well, but exhausted. A political row has erupted over speculation that a ransom was paid. The German press has reported that the kidnappers wanted $5m for each hostage as well as security guarantees. The German press believe that the German government has paid a ransom, although others believe that Mali has put forward the money, and that Germany will then provide it with foreign aid. Also at issue is how far Germany – or indeed any country – should be responsible for its citizens when they knowingly travel to dangerous parts of the world.

1. Angola: Luanda

2. Cyprus: Nicosia

3. Laos: Vientiane

4. Nepal: Kathmandu

5. South Korea: Seoul

· 0 out of 5 – you need to get out more!

· 1-3 – not bad

· 4 – very good! You are a Globetrotter!

· 5 – are you sure you didn’t sneak a look?

The Cambodian government has has released full scale tourism plans for a small village, Anlong Veng, some 70 miles away from Angkor Watt, Cambodia’s most visited tourist attraction. Anlong Veng, however is infamous as being Pol Pot’s last refuge. Plans include opening a museum with video show, refurbishing houses belonging to Pol Pot and a villa belonging to T Mok, once home to the one legged commander nicknamed the Butcher who took over from Pol Pot. There are plans to train some of the former Khmer Rouge as guides. The Ministry of Tourism says that the project will be done in the “best possible taste.” Relatives of the victims have criticised the plans because Anlong Veng has religious significance because of the tremendous suffering and tourism would cheapen the memory.

A great website, spotted by our webmaster Paul. It contains articles from the press and magazines around the world and also headlines from events around the world. So, if you ever wondered what the headlines were in Yemen or Serbia, here’s your chance to find out. Each country’s newspaper is listed so you can select a newspaper of your choice to see that country’s news stories. The site also tells you which language the newspaper is in. Click on: worldpress

A retired Florida schoolteacher who went to Iraq to serve as a “human shield” is facing hefty fines, which she is refusing to pay. The US Treasury said that Faith Fippinger, 62, broke the law by crossing the Iraqi border before the war. Her travel to Iraq violated U.S. sanctions that prohibited American citizens from engaging in “virtually all direct or indirect commercial, financial or trade transactions with Iraq.” The government also has asked Fippinger, 62, to detail her travels to Iraq and any financial transactions she made. In her response, Fippinger wrote that the only money she spent was on food and emergency supplies and that “if it comes to fines or imprisonment, “please be aware that I will not contribute money to the United States government to continue the build-up of its arsenal of weapons.” Since she won't pay, she said, “perhaps the alternative should be considered.”