Best airport in Central and Eastern Europe
Prague's Ruzyne Airport received an award as the best airport in Central and Eastern Europe. Almost 5 million passengers from 86 countries took part in the voting. Moscow's Domodedovo and Warsaw airport took second and third place. As ILOVECZ.ru reports, a year ago first and second places also went to Prague and Moscow.
Number of applications for unemployment benefits in the United States rose by 21,000.
The number of U.S. residents filing for unemployment benefits for the first time increased in the week ending April 23, 2005, to 320,000, Reuters reports. According to revised data, the previous week this figure was 299,000, not 296,000, as previously reported. Economists also predicted that the number of first-time filers would rise to 320,000.
The average number of new unemployment benefit claims over four weeks as of April 23 fell to 323,000 from a revised 331,000 the week earlier (preliminary figure - 330,250). The total number of unemployed receiving benefits fell as of April 16 to 2.555 million people from a revised 2.631 million on April 9 (preliminary figure - 2.638 million people).
Air traffic volume growing in Europe
The Association of European Airlines published data on air transportation of its members in March. The volume of transportation increased by 6.7% compared to March 2004, and the number of passengers by 2.2%, reports Travel.ru.
The largest increase was observed on the Far East route - 13.9%, while flights to North America increased by only 1.5%. At the same time, flights to North America remain the busiest - the load factor reached 84%. International transportation within Europe increased by 8.6%, while domestic transportation decreased by 2.1%.
Overall, in the first quarter of 2005, the volume of transportation increased by 6%, and the number of passengers by 2.7% compared to the previous year. Aircraft load factor increased by 1.2% to 72.8%. The largest traffic growth was observed on flights to South America - 12.9%.
New American passports needed additional protection
Under pressure from various human rights organizations, the U.S. State Department agreed to introduce additional security measures for new American passports with microchips. However, the U.S. presidential administration has not yet reached a consensus on this issue, writes the New York Times.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), data could be read from the passports that will be introduced in the United States by the end of 2005 at a distance of several meters. The ACLU claims that this could lead to government intrusion into citizens' privacy and, secondly, would allow criminals to gain access to personal information.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Passport Services Frank Moss said that the results of government checks on the security regime confirm the lawyers' suspicions. Remote reading of data (so-called skimming) from passports carries a certain risk. However, with great desire, passport data can still be concealed - for this it is enough to place the document in a metal case or add metal fibers to the cover. According to Moss, the U.S. authorities primarily want to ensure the safety of Americans traveling abroad. "We are still working on the issue of ensuring the security and integrity of data on the chip," he said.
In August 2003, Moss rejected the possibility of remote theft of passport data. In his opinion, the risk is small, since the chip will store the same information as a paper passport, including a photo. Frank Moss believed that passport data should not be encrypted, since the chip does not contain fingerprints that could be used to access ATMs or protected computer networks.
All U.S. passports issued by the end of 2005 will be equipped with a chip storing the surname, first name, date of birth, date and time of issue, and a biometric identifier - the owner's photo.
Besides American human rights activists, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain are also wary of the problem that has arisen. Encryption of information on the chip was not included in the standard in these countries. Let us recall that between the United States and the European Union there is an agreement on visa-free border crossing. However, from October 2005, only tourists with biometric passports will be able to visit America without going through embassies. Everyone else will have to obtain visas.
Lithuania will not tighten visa regime with CIS
The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry denied reports in some media that the republic intends to tighten the procedure for issuing visas to citizens of CIS countries coming to Lithuania on tourist vouchers, Interfax reports.
"This information misleads people planning to come to Lithuania for tourist purposes. Citizens of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan can obtain Lithuanian visas by providing tourist vouchers. This year the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry does not intend to tighten the visa issuance procedure during the tourist season," said a representative of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry.
Last year, about 200,000 citizens of Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus visited Lithuania on tourist vouchers.
Cruises from Cyprus to Israel resumed
In the upcoming season, regular cruise programs from the island of Cyprus to Israel will resume. According to data from Cyprus operators, Louis Cruise Lines, taking into account the peace process for resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, considered it possible to resume trips that were interrupted four years ago.
As Travel.ru reports, short cruises to Israel used to be very popular - both among Cypriots themselves and on the domestic market. But now it is too early to talk about the resumption of demand for these programs, according to operators. Revaz Mgeladze, deputy director of Zevs Travel, notes the lack of sufficient advertising support for the resumed excursion product. A similar comment is given by Alexander Tugolukov, director of Biblio-Globus: "There is no statistics yet on sales of these cruises. But earlier they were booked by about 40% of tourists going to Cyprus through our company. Some bought them on the spot. That is, the final figure was 50-55% of the flow." Nevertheless, according to Tatyana Chuvilkina, deputy director of Natali Tours, their bookings are already going well. "The company managed to announce the cruises in a timely manner, since the Louis holding is our host partner in Cyprus."
For the upcoming season, several cruises to Israel for two days/three nights with excursions to Jerusalem, Galilee and Nazareth have been announced. Also a combined sea voyage Israel + Egypt for two days/three nights with excursions to Jerusalem, Cairo and the pyramids in Giza. The cost of the programs depends on the cabin class, there are quite economical options (from 83 Cypriot pounds). The visa is issued on board the ship. Interestingly, many hotels in Cyprus do not charge for nights spent on a cruise, provided that during this time the tourist vacates the room and moves things to the hotel luggage storage.
Lithuania has started issuing electronic passports
Lithuania is one of the first in Europe to start issuing passports with an electronic carrier that allows absolutely accurate identification of the document holder. At the first stage, such passports will be issued only to diplomats, reports IA Rosbalt.
As Lithuanian Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis said at the presentation of the new document, the new generation passport "fully complies with world standards, and perhaps surpasses them." A digital photograph is recorded on the electronic carrier of the Lithuanian diplomatic passport. The same carrier can store data on the owner's fingerprints and a scanned iris of the eye. When crossing the border, the passport will be read by a special device, on the screen of which the border guard will see a photograph that he can compare with the appearance of the passport holder.
So far, only Belgium has issued passports with an electronic carrier in the EU. From the end of October, all EU citizens traveling to the United States who are eligible for visa-free entry will be required to have such a passport. Ordinary citizens of Lithuania will receive new passports at the end of 2006.
To enter Spain, it is enough to have a passport and a visa
Foreign citizens arriving in Spain are not required to present documents at the border explaining the purpose of their trip; it is enough to have a passport and a visa. As RIA Novosti reports, this decision was made by the Supreme Court of Spain after considering a lawsuit by Ecuadorian citizen Eduardo Saul G. B.
On April 4, 2002, he was detained at Madrid's Barajas airport by the Spanish police, who forced the Ecuadorian to return to his homeland because he did not have documents explaining the purposes and conditions of his trip to Spain. The police deported the Ecuadorian citizen, who had come to Madrid for ten days as a tourist, suspecting him of intending to stay illegally in the country. The police also cited the fact that the Ecuadorian could not present a hotel reservation, although he stated that he intended to rent a room upon arrival in Madrid. The Supreme Court of Spain found the police actions unjustified and allowed the Ecuadorian citizen to enter Spain.
Based on this precedent, the court ruled that for any foreigner to enter Spain, in the absence of "exceptional circumstances" (when there are serious and well-founded suspicions against the foreigner, as stipulated in the Schengen Agreement), it is sufficient to have a valid passport and a properly issued entry visa.