Tag: Politics
Rock the Favela
by Caetano Veloso | 02.23.10 | 10:47 AM ET
iStockPhoto In an excerpt from the book "Culture is Our Weapon," Brazilian musician Caetano Veloso explores the power of AfroReggae in Rio
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Yahoo! BuzzNew National Monuments in the Works
by Eva Holland | 02.22.10 | 11:53 AM ET
The federal government has drawn up a list of potential new national monuments, mostly in the southwestern states—and this New York Times story explains why some local politicians see the move as “a land-grab device for East Coast politicians.” Regional politics aside, shouldn’t “Lesser Prairie Chicken National Monument” be something we can all get behind?
World Travel Watch: Strikes in Belgium and Greece, Bombing in India and More
by Larry Habegger | 02.17.10 | 11:38 AM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
World Travel Watch: Dubai’s Burj Khalifa Closed, Alternate Routes to Machu Picchu and More
by Larry Habegger | 02.10.10 | 11:38 AM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
Haiti: Give Aid or Deal With the Roots of the Problem?
by Rick Steves | 02.08.10 | 3:57 PM ET
On the question few people are asking about Haiti after the earthquake
President Obama Says Yes to High-Speed Rail Plans
by Eva Holland | 01.29.10 | 3:46 PM ET
It’s not often that a major Presidential speech makes ears perk up in the travel media—but President Obama happily got our attention this week when he talked high-speed rail during his State of the Union address Wednesday. Here’s part of what Obama said:
[F]rom the first railroads to the Interstate Highway System, our nation has always been built to compete. There’s no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains or the new factories that manufacture clean-energy products.
Then yesterday in Tampa he outlined where $8 billion in grants will go: A Tampa-Orlando-Miami route in Florida is first up, with projects in California, Illinois and elsewhere to follow. The Christian Science Monitor and NPR have more on the details.
And the response? Bruce Watson of Daily Finance is optimistic, pointing out that an improved rail network’s benefits go well beyond the employment created by the trains themselves. He writes:
For years, critics have argued that rail ticket sales don’t cover the cost of passenger service. However, the same could be said of America’s highway and airline infrastructure, both of which receive far more state and federal funding than Amtrak. The key point is that passenger rail’s profitability doesn’t accrue to the rail line—which will almost always operate at a deficit—but rather to the areas that it serves, where the influx of people will bring business opportunities, tourist dollars and other investment.
Time’s Bryan Walsh is more skeptical. He predicts that much of the money will likely be spent shoring up existing service rather than creating shiny new TGV-style lines, and adds, “America’s antiquated rail system will have to advance a long way just to make it to the present, let alone the future.”
Finally, Politico’s Josh Gerstein picks up on Obama’s recent quip about passengers keeping their shoes on when boarding passenger trains—and ponders why security is so different on trains and planes.
World Travel Watch: Elections in Sri Lanka, Shark Attack in Cape Town and More
by Larry Habegger | 01.20.10 | 12:59 PM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
Six Cities to Explore Martin Luther King’s History
by Larry Bleiberg | 01.18.10 | 1:19 PM ET
From Atlanta to Washington, D.C., Larry Bleiberg highlights the must-see places where the civil rights leader lived and made history
My Hunch About Iran
by Rick Steves | 01.14.10 | 10:33 AM ET
On Iran's opposition movement and a letter from an Iranian-American
World Travel Watch: Major Earthquake in Haiti, Road Blocks in Greece and More
by Larry Habegger | 01.13.10 | 12:25 PM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
Nine Subversive Travel Novels
by Thomas Kohnstamm | 01.13.10 | 11:11 AM ET
Thomas Kohnstamm celebrates fiction that uncovers deeper truths about travel and the world
Nine Subversive Travel Books
by Thomas Kohnstamm | 01.12.10 | 12:17 PM ET
Thomas Kohnstamm celebrates books that really rocked the boat
World Travel Watch: Smog in Hong Kong, Heavy UK Snowfall and More
by Larry Habegger | 01.06.10 | 11:25 AM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
America’s HIV Travel Ban Ends Today
by Eva Holland | 01.04.10 | 4:59 PM ET
As of today, the ban on HIV-positive visitors to the U.S. is no longer in effect—and the first passengers to take advantage of the change will soon be en route from the Netherlands. Steve Ralls writes in the Huffington Post: “The arrival of [Amsterdam-JFK passengers] Clemens Ruland and Hugo Bausch will also signal the end of a shameful and discriminatory policy that has exacted a heavy price on our country’s reputation in the scientific community and kept countless individuals—both straight and gay—separated from their loved ones.” (Via The Daily Dish)
World Travel Watch: Air Travel Woes in Canada, Volcano Tourists in the Philippines and More
by Larry Habegger | 12.30.09 | 1:08 PM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
World Travel Watch: Fees and Visas in India and Argentina, Maoists in Nepal and More
by Larry Habegger | 12.16.09 | 10:56 AM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
The Challenge of Curating a ‘Museum of Ideas’
by Eva Holland | 12.15.09 | 4:35 PM ET
The Globe and Mail has a thoughtful, in-depth look at the process of creating Canada’s still-in-progress Human Rights Museum—a museum, as James Bradshaw, writes, “whose mandate is to grapple almost entirely with the world’s touchiest subjects.” He goes on:
“It is a museum of ideas. And ideas, of course, are never static,” says Yude Henteleff, the chair of the museum’s Content Advisory Committee.
If human rights are a human construction, a set of collective ideas, then the public view of them will be forever shifting, amorphous and vulnerable to attack. And a museum that tries to document that process on its walls promises to have its combustible moments.
France Returns Frescoes to Egypt
by Eva Holland | 12.15.09 | 2:12 PM ET
Big news in the antiquities world: The French government has returned five disputed frescoes to the Egyptian government. The painted stone fragments had been held by the Louvre for the past few years, and the Egyptians—claiming that the Louvre’s curators bought them knowing they were stolen goods—had cut off all formal ties and cooperation on archaeological digs with the museum as a result. I suspect that the British Museum, among others, hopes this move won’t become a precedent-setter.
A Tourist’s Afghanistan
by Cullen Thomas | 12.10.09 | 11:09 AM ET
REUTERS/Jerry Lampen Cullen Thomas recounts an independent traveler's time in the war-torn country
Canada Makes the Next Move in Northwest Passage Dispute
by Eva Holland | 12.09.09 | 2:13 PM ET
Time for another round of diplomatic maneuvering as the ice recedes around the long-sought northern shipping route. The latest move? Canada has announced plans to create a formal marine conservation area in Lancaster Sound, in waters which the American and Russian governments claim are international. The change would allow shipping but make waste dumping, mining and oil and gas development in the area illegal under Canadian law.