Like I’ve mentioned before, I work at a newspaper, and, consequently, read a lot of news stories every day. Since a lot of the goings-on in other parts of the world end up affecting things like travel, I thought it might be neat to do a weekly post summing up what’s going on across the oceans and around the world. Plus, it never hurts to be informed.
So here’s the first installment of What in the World?
Europe
Britain’s elections last Thursday didn’t result in a clear-cut winner. The Conservative Party won the most votes, but not enough to constitute a majority government. Meaning a coalition government must now be formed, most likely with the not-quite-ideologically-compatible Liberal Democrats. Meanwhile, current PM Gordon Brown’s Labour Party is also trying to woo the Liberal Democrats and steal the majority away from the Conservatives. To try and make this more appealing, Brown has offered to resign by September.
UPDATE: On Tuesday, Gordon Brown stepped aside, the Queen officially appointed Conservative leader David Cameron Britain’s new prime minister, and the Conservatives made a deal with the Liberal Democrats, making Nick Clegg deputy prime minister. Whew.
Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokul volcano (referred to from here on out as “E-squiggle-something” because, seriously, can Icelanders even pronounce that word?) has been causing mischief for the past month all over Europe as its eruption and odd springtime winds have combined to produce a large ash cloud that’s made air travel across the Atlantic tough. The sneaky ash cloud is now receding once more and flights are back to normal. But that’s only for now. Last month, over 10 million travelers were stranded because nearly 100,000 flights were canceled across Europe thanks to E-squiggle-something and its spewing ash. Let’s hope it settles down soon so Alison can go to Europe.
Greece is still in severe financial trouble, causing the EU to actually band together and tackle the volatile euro economy. While this isn’t really great news for any EU countries, it’s good for anyone wanting to travel to Greece, and it’s also nice to see everyone in the EU playing nice. Though, many EU residents don’t see it that way. In Germany, for example, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats were voted out of majority in the upper house of parliament in the North Rhine-Westphalia region this past weekend, because many Germans don’t like this business of bailing Greece out of financial ruin.
The Middle-East
In Iraq, where parliamentary elections were held March 7, a winner still has not been named. The current PM, al-Maliki, lost the vote, but is now crying foul and demanding countless recounts while at the same time fishing for reasons to disqualify some of the candidates from the winning Iraqiya party. And violence in the country is on the rise again, with over 100 people being killed in violence on Monday.
The U.S.
In the Gulf of Mexico, BP is still floundering trying to plug up what’s turned into a massive oil spill. Already over four million gallons of the black stuff has bubbled up into the Gulf, and all the fixes that have been attempted so far have failed. With their containment box a big flop, now they’re seriously considering shoving random things like golf balls and bits of old tires into the pipe to plug it, and then sealing it up with cement and mud. … Sounds very high-tech.
Tennessee was bombarded with terrible flooding last week that left 20 dead in the state, and the Grand Ole Opry under two feet of water. Can we be done with these terrible natural disasters now?
In more literal travel news, United and Continental airlines are planning to merge to create a super airline that will dominate the U.S. skies. I don’t know what this will mean for airline prices, but we know for sure two airlines becoming one means less competition.
Fun Stuff
Last week, a Russian warship hunted down and launched an attack on an oil tanker that had been previously hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. The raid was successful, and pretty badass. Take that, pirates. Arrrgh.
Looking back, I imagine this post makes me sound much more politically-minded than I actually am. But what can I say? This is what I read about every day at work.
I support this idea/post… if its a regular thing.
I read the paper, but skim through to the parts that affect me (selfish I know). You summarise it nicely.
Yeah, I definitely want to make it a weekly thing. I figure, I’m reading about all of this anyway. May as well condense it and share it, too.