The FCO said early November: 'Following the terrorist attacks in Bali… in which Western tourists were deliberately targeted, the threat to British nationals in Thailand, including popular tourist areas, the island of Phuket in particular, has increased significantly.'

This statement has enraged not only the Thai and other South East Asian tourism authorities, but ABTA, that venerable travel industry association who have asked for greater clarity in the travel advice issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Keith Betton, head of corporate affairs at ABTA, said: 'Surely they should tell us if they have had a specific threat about Phuket.' He added: 'The advice they have given has scared people and we have no idea whether it is reasonable. As far as we can tell Thailand is as dangerous for the 6,000 or so Britons there as London was for Americans when the IRA was bombing here.'

In response, an FCO spokesperson said: “We would not mark out Phuket just to be on the safe side. Our advice is drawn from a number of sources, including intelligence officials”.

Tour operators have been calling customers with bookings to Thailand, or travellers in Thailand, apprising them of the FCO advice and allowing them to postpone or alter their holiday plans. Airtours has dropped Thailand, and Thomson Worldwide says bookings have dipped.

Early November, the FCO updated its advice on 12 countries – including Honduras, Seychelles, Gibraltar and the Marshall Islands in the Pacific – advising travellers to be 'aware of the risk of indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets in public places' although no one at the FCO could explain what this risk is, and it has promised to discuss the practicality of its warnings with the Travel Advice Unit.

Foreign and Commonwealth Travel Advice is available on 020 7008 0232/3.

Olympia London from January 30 – February 2

You'll find the largest range of holidays and ideas to be found under one roof – hundreds of tour operators, travel companies and tourist boards offering everything from adventure experiences to cultural weekend breaks. A limited number of complimentary tickets are available to telegraph.co.uk readers (maximum 2 per user) if booked in advance for Destinations 2003.

Visit www.destinationsshow.com, click on 'box office' and enter the code 'tcuk' when prompted.

Many of the London hop-on-hop-off buses throw in a free river cruise – often to Greenwich,with the ticket. And even if you are not doing that, a visit to Greenwich can make a good day out.

The Beetle’s favourite way of getting there is to go on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to Island Gardens and to walk through the foot tunnel to Greenwich. There are some fab views, particularly in Winter, looking south, across the river.

Once in Greenwich, there’s quite a bit to do: visit the Royal Observatory, the Cutty Sark and the National Maritime Museum – and it’s free!

The museum building itself is quite interesting: it used to be an asylum building (i.e. what was referred to as a mad house) and then it was a hospital school.

What’s there to see? In the museum, you will find a collection of all things relating to the history of Britain at sea. But this has been updated to include the dangers of sea pollution and ecology, as well as Nelson’s seafaring antics.

The collection dates back to 1823 when a National Gallery of Naval Art was established, featuring some 300 portraits, paintings and artefacts.

The National Maritime Museum opens daily 10:00-17:00 Sun-Mon. Closed 24-26 Dec 2002. Train: Greenwich Train Station. Enquiries: 020 8858 4422 Entrance: FREE.

by Charles Arthur / Independent/UK (via Common Dreams News Center)

The snows of Mount Kilimanjaro, immortalized by an Ernest Hemingway short story, are melting so quickly they are expected to disappear within two decades.

Researchers have found that the ice fields capping Africa's highest mountain shrank by 80 per cent in the last century, from 4.6 square miles in 1912 to just one square mile two years ago, which has brought down the height of the mountain by several feet.

The ice covering the 19,330ft peak “will be gone by about 2020”, said Lonnie Thompson, a glaciologist at Ohio State University. The process has cut water volume in some Tanzanian rivers that supply villages and hospitals. Global warming is one reason, but scientists say it alone cannot have caused such a dramatic change. The other factors behind the transformation remain a mystery.

If you were thinking of visiting Spain’s beautiful north western coast, your walks along the beach may be spoilt and it may be an idea not to order locally caught fish. A 35m gash in the side of a Greek owned oil tanker, the Prestige, has caused a major oil spill, about 1,500 tonnes of oil so far.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) warns that if all 77,000 tones of the Prestige's cargo were to leak, the spill would be twice the size of the catastrophic Exxon Valdez spill off Alaska.

Floating barriers and pumping systems have been in place to try to contain the spill, but nonetheless, thick patches of oil have been washing up along a 40-kilometre stretch of coastline.