June 2010

One reason why Italy is so much fun is that it just keeps changing. Here are a few new developments that will be handy for you to know if you’ll be visiting the land of “la dolce vita.”

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As ITN went to press, the State Department had travel warnings on 31 destinations: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kyrgyz Republic, Mexico, Philippines, Algeria, Lebanon, Iran, Kenya, Haiti, Colombia, Eritrea, Central African Republic, Yemen, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia, Mauritania, Chad, Mali, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Israel/West Bank/Gaza, Afghanistan, Burundi, Nigeria, Uzbekistan and Georgia. 

For details, call the State Department at 202/647-5225 or visit http://travel.state.gov/travel/warnings.html.

India announced that 104 mountain peaks in the Ladakh region will be opened this summer to foreign climbers and trekkers for the first time. Mostly in the Eastern Karakoram range, they measure 3,000 to 7,800 meters in height.

Violence between rebels and Indian troops was common in the Ladakh region, a heavily militarized area that includes Kashmir, which has been in contention between India and Pakistan for years. However, since 2004 when peace talks began between the two nations, safety has much improved, so officials are encouraging tourism.

In Ethiopia, past elections have brought violence in Addis Ababa and other areas of the country throughout the campaign season, especially in the weeks following the announcement of election results, the State Department warns. National parliamentary elections are scheduled for May 23, 2010, with results to be announced June 21.

Also, due to extremists, banditry and incidents involving ethnic conflicts, exercise caution when traveling to any remote area of the country, including the borders with Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya and Sudan. 

During a religious procession in Hyderabad, India, on March 30, two people were killed when a riot broke out between Hindu and Muslim youths after a Hindu group replaced Muslim street flags with Hindu ones. Police used tear gas and arrested 110 people. In debates around a movement to make the Andra Pradesh area a separate state, the city has experienced months of unrest.

The Jan. 12 earthquake which killed 230,000 in Haiti caused significant damage to key infrastructure, and all forms of communication are limited. There are shortages of food, water, transportation and shelter. The sanitation situation poses serious health risks.

According to the US Department of State, there remains a persistent danger of violent crime, including homicides and kidnappings, and since the quake, four American citizens have been murdered in Port-au-Prince.

The Department of State continues to warn of the risks of traveling to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa).

Both government soldiers and rebel fighters — located especially in North Kivu, South Kivu, Orientale and Bas-Congo provinces as well as in the northern part of Katanga province — are known to pillage, steal vehicles, kidnap, rape and kill.

Violent antigovernment demonstrations in the Kyrgyz Republic on April 7 resulted in 85 people dead and hundreds wounded when police opened fire on protesters outside the presidential offices in Bishkek.

President Bakiyev fled and later resigned, and an opposition government took power. The interim government announced plans to hold a referendum in July on a new constitution that would limit centralized power. The situation remains unstable.

Bihar and West Bengal, states in northeastern India, were ravaged by a tornado with winds of 75 mph on April 13 that killed 137 people, left more than a million homeless and flattened tens of thousands of homes. More than 200,000 homes were damaged, many the mud-and-thatch homes of farmers.

The corn crop was destroyed and stocks of rice seed were ruined. Thousands of dead livestock have fouled the waters, causing concerns of disease.