Colosseum may come alive
ROME’S Colosseum may once again be used for cultural events if Italy’s culture minister gets his way. Dario Franceschini is supporting a plan to rebuild the arena’s wooden floor, which would allow concerts and other cultural events to be held there, in the same place where gladiators once fought to the death, The Telegraph reports.
Currently, only a small portion of the arena is covered by wooden boards, allowing visitors to see into the labyrinth of tunnels and stone cells that once housed caged animals and gladiators.
The minister’s plans do not include mock gladiatorial battles or fights with lions or bears.
Critics say the plan will cheapen the Colosseum and could cause further damage to its stone structure. Last week, a Russian tourist was fined
à20 000 and given a four-year suspended sentence for carving his initials on one of the arena’s walls.
EBOLA DRIVES TOURISTS FROM AFRICA
TOURISTS are staying away from Southern Africa due to “hysteria” over Ebola, even though the danger zone is 5 000km away. Tour operators have reported declining visitor numbers to Southern and East Africa with one outfitter noting that, between the end of August and October, bookings were half their usual level, The Telegraph reports. Some companies operating in Kenya and Botswana’s Okavango Delta have seen business drop by as much as 50%.
SAA REDUCES US FARES
SOUTH African Airways is offering reduced fares of $999 (about R11 000) on its flights from Washington DC and New York to Johannesburg, Travel Buyer reports. The fares, sold under the airline’s “Fall into Savings” promotion, are on sale from now until December 9 2014 for travel between January 19 and March 10 next year.
CLAIRVOYANT PREDICTS CRASH
BRAZILIAN airline TAM changed one of its flight numbers after clairvoyant Jucelino Nobrega da Luz told officials the flight would crash after developing engine trouble. Spooked by the bad omen, the airline changed flight JJ3720 from Sao Paulo to Brasilia to flight JJ4732. According to Travelmole, the airline moved swiftly to change the code, citing security concerns.
The clairvoyant claims to have predicted the deaths of Princess Diana, Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna and Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos, who was killed in a plane crash in August.
SELSO THE SEAL RETURNS
SELSO, the southern elephant seal who made headlines when he washed up exhausted and starving on Southbroom’s beach in June 2013, has returned to SA shores after 169 days at sea. Selso was rehabilitated at uShaka Marine World, fitted with a tracking device and released on January 11 this year. He headed to the Southern Ocean and Marion Island but was found washed up at Cape Recife Nature Reserve two weeks ago. Selso will be cared for at Bayworld in Port Elizabeth and then set free once more when he is fit to travel.
KENYA AIRWAYS DROPS DELHI
KENYA Airways has suspended its flights between Nairobi and New Delhi as of last week, Travel Buyer reports. The airline’s flights between Nairobi and Mumbai are unaffected and code share options are available for connecting flights to New Delhi.
UK AVIATION SECURITY TO TIGHTEN
AVIATION security is to get tougher in the United Kingdom as part of the provisions in a new counter-terrorism and security bill, Travelmole reports. UK Home Secretary Theresa May said the bill would “toughen our arrangements for aviation security”. Measures include a requirement for airlines to provide passenger data more effectively; and an extended “no-fly” list, strengthening the UK’s ability to impose security and screening requirements on travel to the UK. May said passengers who did not comply with the screening rules would be barred from flying to the UK. May told a counter terrorism event in London that 40 planned terror attacks had been foiled in Britain since the July 7 bombings in 2005.