Wednesday, October 3, 2012

CNNGo.com

CNNGo.com


United States adds Taiwan to Visa Waiver Program

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 01:49 AM PDT

by Zoe Li

For every 65 tourists, one job is created in the United States.

The United States has announced that it will include Taiwan in its Visa Waiver Program (VWP) starting November 1.

Taiwanese nationals who are pre-approved, low-risk travelers will be able to stay in the United States for tourism or business for up to 90 days without a visa. Travelers will need to obtain authorization online.

"Taiwan has met all the requirements of VWP membership," said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano at a Global Travel and Tourism Conference hosted by the U.S. State Department. 

"(Taiwan has) committed to enhance law enforcement and security-related data sharing, timely reporting of lost and stolen passports and maintaining high counter-terrorism law enforcement, immigration control, aviation and document security standard."

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Hong Kong ferry disaster hits world's 'most delightful commute'

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 01:04 AM PDT

by Kevin Voigt

Hong Kong ferry disasterThe Lamma IV boat collided with a ferry on the night of October 1, killing more than 30 people. The captains of both boats and 5 other crew members have been arrested.

When my neighbor Jane Wilbor got on a Lamma ferry Tuesday, she did something she'd never done before with her three young children: She put on life preservers.

"I wanted to show them how to get one out and put one on," said Wilbor, whose three children -- Louie, 10, James, 9, and 7-year-old Eddie -- are playmates with my son 4-year-old son, Jonah, in Pak Kok, a small village of a few dozen families on Lamma Island, one of hundreds of islands that make up Hong Kong.

Our village was awoken by the sound of helicopters Monday night, as searchlights trained on the sea until the sunlight broke the next morning on a capsized boat just a few hundred meters offshore.

The ferry collision that left at least 38 dead -- including five children --is not an abstraction for those who live on Lamma, but a tragedy that puts the spotlight on an elemental part of our lives and the economic livelihood of Hong Kong: The busy waterways and the boats that connect the city.

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German hamlet vies to become world’s most courteous town

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 12:08 AM PDT

by CNNGo staff

The cranky counter agent.

The uncouth waiter.

The monstrous flight attendant.

Sure, these icons of travel might provide the kind of nightmare stories you end up repeating for years, but few things get us as riled as rude service people.

If a German group has its way, however, tourists will suffer the abuses of insolence no more.

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Denmark ousted from top 100: World's new happiest country is ...

Posted: 02 Oct 2012 11:12 PM PDT

by CNNGo staff

Denmark is no longer the happiest country in the world.

Actually, the Danes are far from being happy, according to a new global happiness measurement, the Happy Planet Index (HPI).

Instead, Costa Ricans are now the merriest in a list of 151 countries.

The index, compiled by the London-based New Economics Foundation (NEF), is different from the more well-known happiness index issued by the United Nations.

In addition to life expectancy and happiness, the HPI takes environmental sustainability into consideration.

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How to take great wildlife photos

Posted: 02 Oct 2012 11:50 AM PDT

by CNNGo staff

How to take great wildlife photos -- inline 1Love them, hug them, photograph them.A safari anecdote may impress your friends, but a journey in pictures will blow them away.

So how do you turn a safari into an album filled with vivid wildlife images?

Jan Latta knows.

Latta first came face-to-face with a mountain gorilla in Rwanda in 1994.

Since then, the Australian author and wildlife photographer has strolled with lions in Zambia, faced charges by elephants in Amboseli and played with baby pandas in China.

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Video guide to Beijing's best street foods

Posted: 02 Oct 2012 09:50 AM PDT

by Nicole Pang, Tracy You

Everybody comes to Beijing to eat that sizzling roast duck.

Then what?

Beyond the famous duck, there are endless eats to discover along the city's busy streets and inside its lively hutong alleyways.

Beijing-based chef Sue Zhou recently roamed the city to pick her favorite Beijing street foods for CNNGo.

Here's her list: spicy, mouth-numbing vegetable soup ("malatang" in Chinese), crispy five-grain pancakes ("jian bing") and donkey-meat burgers with scallion.

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