24 Apr, 2017

Global Coral Reef Experts Launch Major Restoration Efforts in the Caribbean

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San Francisco, 13 April 2017, (Business Wire) – A powerhouse group of scientists and conservationists are joining forces to tackle the unprecedented decline of coral reefs worldwide. The California Academy of Sciences, SECORE International, and The Nature Conservancy are sealing their commitment to help rehabilitate coral reefs and preserve them for future generations by spearheading […]

24 Apr, 2017

Thailand’s bid to “disrupt the disrupters” in legal limbo

Imtiaz Muqbil

Bangkok – Taxi drivers in many Thai tourist cities have long been well known for ripping off passengers — meters that suddenly “did not work”, roads that were suddenly “closed for repairs” requiring the driver to take a longer route, shops that had “just shut down” so that the driver could take the passenger to […]

20 Apr, 2017

Australian critical infrastructure organisations targeted by cybercriminals hundreds of times each day – Survey

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Canberra, (19 April 2017), Joint media release by the Attorney-General, Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator George Brandis QC,  Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Cyber Security, Dan Tehan MP — The Government has today released a comprehensive cyber security survey, published by the Australian Cyber Security Centre, of Australian government and major […]

20 Apr, 2017

CAIR-NY Condemns Racially, Religiously Motivated Attack on Sikh Man in New York

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NEW YORK, NY, 4/18/17 (CAIR media release) — The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY), a leading Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned the attack on a Sikh man in the Bronx as a suspected hate crime. According to police, Harkirat Singh, a 25-year-old Sikh man and taxi driver, […]

12 Apr, 2017

Meet Zia Hussain, the stranded Fulbright scholar barred from re-entering US – DAWN.COM

Syed Zia Hussain Shah, a 25-year-old graduate of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and a Fulbright scholar, was on his way back from a winter break to continue his post-graduate studies at the University of Chicago when he was stopped from boarding a plane to the US. “When they checked my ticket at […]

12 Apr, 2017

Applications open for Transparency Summer School on Integrity 2017, scholarships available

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Calling all university students, graduates and young professionals under the age of 35 who are eager to learn how to make a stand against corruption: apply now for the Transparency School on Integrity (TISI) 2017, taking place during 10-16 July, 2017 in Vilnius, Lithuania. Since 2010, the School on Integrity has welcomed over 700 students, […]

12 Apr, 2017

Aerial surveys help combat coral bleaching at Great Barrier Reef

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Canberra, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority media release, 10/04/2017 – Results from recent aerial surveys of the Great Barrier Reef will be used to target recovery efforts in those areas worst affected by this year’s coral bleaching event, as well as boost the resilience of those parts that remain largely unscathed. Great Barrier Reef […]

12 Apr, 2017

“Trust & Transparency” theme of Australian Privacy Awareness Week, 15-19 May

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Canberra, 10 April 2017, (Office of the Australian Information Commissioner) – With privacy attracting a record level of attention from Australian consumers and communities, Australian Information and Privacy Commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim, has today previewed key events of this year’s Privacy Awareness Week (15 to 19 May 2017). ‘Australians are more conscious of personal data issues […]

12 Apr, 2017

Door open for travel & tourism academia to boost research on “The Other Global Warming”

Imtiaz Muqbil

Bangkok – The Malaysia-based Global Movement of Moderates Foundation and the Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, have signed an MoU to expand academic research in “religious moderation” as a universal force for peace, shunning all forms of extremism, nationalism and absolutism. Signed on April 5 at a conference designed to promote exactly that agenda, […]

9 Apr, 2017

Mini Symposium on Islamic Tourism to be held in KL 13-14 April

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Kuala Lumpur (ITC media release) — Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC), under the purview of Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Malaysia is organising its first Mini Symposium on Islamic Tourism 2017. The symposium will take place from 13 to 14 April 2017 with eight (8) confirmed paper presenters of Islamic tourism from Masters and Ph.D researchers […]

9 Apr, 2017

Misleading travel booking websites a growing problem in Europe

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Brussels, 7 April 2017, European Commission Press release — The European Commission and EU consumer protection authorities launched a coordinated screening of 352 price comparison and travel booking websites across the EU in October 2016. They found that prices were not reliable on 235 websites, two thirds of the sites checked. For example, additional price […]

7 Apr, 2017

GMS Tourism “development” benefiting elites, cronies far more than the poor – NGO report

Imtiaz Muqbil

Bangkok – Development in the Mekong Subregion is benefitting “powerful elites, cronies, corporations, and some politicians” far more than the poor, as well as doing serious environmental damage that will create major long-term problems, according to the Bangkok-based NGO Focus on the Global South.   Entitled “An Overview of Large Scale Investment Projects in the […]

3 Apr, 2017

ASEAN to recognise biodiversity heroes

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JAKARTA, 27 March 2017 (ASEAN secretariat media release) – What is biodiversity? Ask people what they think it means, and chances are only a few can accurately define it. Fewer still can explain its significance to human survival. The immense communication gap between the biodiversity conservation community and the general public is a major factor […]

3 Apr, 2017

China launches Integrated work permit to attract talent, make it easier for foreigners to work

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Beijing, April 02, 2017,  (CRI Online)  – Foreigners who want to work in China now only need to apply for one work permit, as of April 1. The new system unifies the two work permits required before into just one, and took effect across China on Saturday after a six-month pilot scheme in a number […]

3 Apr, 2017

Australia nabs child offender, 68, as part of efforts to stop them going abroad

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Canberra, 31 March 2017 (Joint media release by the Minister for Justice, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Counter Terrorism, and Minister for Foreign Affairs) — Officers from the Australian Federal Police and Victorian Joint Anti-Child-Exploitation Team (JACET) today arrested a 68-year-old man who was allegedly planning to travel overseas with the intention of sexually […]

3 Apr, 2017

Reality check: Chinese visitors spend more than any other country in U.S.

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Beijing, 01 April 2017, (People’s Daily Online commentary) – Recently, China-U.S. relations have attracted global attention. While some find endless faults with the trade relationship with China and blame China for America’s decline, we shouldn’t overlook the numerous positive aspects of the bilateral relationship, which overall outweigh the disadvantages.   One way to explain this […]

3 Apr, 2017

Improper disclosure hits Citibank Australia with $5 million refund in credit card int’l transaction fees

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Canberra, 31 March 2017 – (Australian Securities and Investments Commission media release) — Citigroup Pty Limited (Citibank) has refunded approximately $5 million to around 230,000 customers, for failing to properly disclose that credit card international transaction fees apply to Australian dollar transactions where the merchant uses an entity based overseas to process its transactions. In […]

3 Apr, 2017

Chinese-made passenger jet ready for maiden flight, will compete with A320 and Boeing 737

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SHANGHAI, 25 March 2017, (Xinhua) — China’s first large domestically designed and built passenger jetliner has passed a major technical assessment, bringing it a closer to its maiden flight, sources with the developer said Saturday. An evaluation committee consisting 63 aviation specialists from across China has agreed the C919 is technically ready for its maiden […]

2 Apr, 2017

Return journey to Uzbekistan, Heart of the Silk Road

Imtiaz Muqbil

For many years, promoting the Silk Road has been one of the priority projects of the UN World Tourism Organisation, which describes it thus: “Acclaimed as the ‘greatest route in the history of mankind’, the ancient Silk Road formed the first bridge between the East and the West and was an important vehicle for trade […]