March 2009

Tracing football’s (soccer’s) growth from a game for the elites to a passion for all the 190 million people of Brazil, the Museu do Futebol opened in September 2008 at the Pacaembu Stadium (Praça Charles Miller, Consolçao, São Paulo) in São Paulo, east of the central downtown area.

See sports reel footage of Pelé and Garrincha. Put on 3-D glasses and watch Ronaldinho dribble a soccer ball to a samba beat without letting it touch the ground. Take a penalty kick at a goal and have the speed measured by a radar gun; 

In Nara, the first capital of Japan, as of Sept. 6, 2008, international visitors receive free tickets at four museums simply by showing their passports.

A 30-minute train ride from central Kyoto, these include Nara Museum of Art (17th-century Ukiyo-e woodblock prints), Nara Complex of Manyo Culture in Asuka Village (Manyoshu, Japan’s oldest collection of poetry), Nara Museum of Folklore (Machiya-style houses, tools) and Archaeological Institute of Kashihara (items from 1938 excavation of Fujinoki Burial Mound). 

Tokyo’s huge Tsukiji fish market once again is open to tourists, as of Jan. 19, 2009; a ban had been enacted Dec. 15, 2008. Tourists are allowed to visit the entire market from 5 to 6:15 a.m. They will be given guidelines against touching the 600-pound fishes and disrupting auctions with flash photography.

As ITN went to press, the State Department had travel warnings on 28 destinations: Israel/West Bank/Gaza, Burundi, Sri Lanka, Cote d’Ivoire, Georgia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Nepal, Pakistan, Eritrea, Somalia, Chad, Kenya, Yemen, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Iran, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Algeria, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Haiti, Syria, Central African Republic and Philippines.

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

Nepal has increased the length of time on the daily power cuts from 12 to 16 hours due to a lack of electricity. The cuts are likely to continue for the next five to six years. There are not enough power generation plants to keep up with the growth in demand, and, due to civil strife, work has not begun on any new ones.

The US Department of State warns of the risks of travel to Burundi.

Burundi was plagued by a civil war from 1993 to 2006. In September 2006, the government and the last rebel group not party to peace accords, the Palipehutu–FNL, signed a cease-fire agreement. However, many of the cease-fire provisions have not been implemented. 

In April 2008, FNL rebel forces engaged Burundian military units in and around Bujumbura. Government troops overcame them and FNL leaders agreed to discontinue hostilities, but a final peace agreement has not been completed.

The Department of State warns that Côte d’Ivoire continues to experience episodes of political unrest and violence since a failed coup attempt in 2002 evolved into an armed rebellion that split the country in two. Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo and New Forces leader Guillaume Soro signed an agreement in March 2007 and a new government was formed with Soro as Prime Minister, but the political situation has not fully returned to normal.

In Guwahti, India, another series of three bombs exploded on Jan. 1. Six people were killed and 50 were reported injured. The blasts took place just prior to a planned visit by the Indian Home Minister, P. Chidambaram. At press time, no one had claimed responsibility for the blasts but police had blamed the United Front for the Liberation of Asom. 

A series of bombs in October ’08 injured more than 70 people in several towns and cities of the Assam region. 

The situation along the border regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Rwanda has been deteriorating. The Lords Resistance Army (LRA) stepped up attacks on villages in the DRC, and, since December 2008, rapes, maiming and more than 400 deaths of villagers have been attributed to the rebel group.

Ugandan, Rwandan and Congolese troops have joined in military actions against the guerillas, and the UN peacekeeping force is attempting to coordinate with them.

Athens continues to suffer from riots and outbursts of street violence. The government estimates that over $1.3 billion of damage has been done in the city since early December. 

On Jan. 1, an education protest march degenerated into a riot. On Jan. 5, an officer was injured when gunmen opened fire on riot police outside of the Ministry of Culture. On Jan. 23, 30 rioters who struggled with the police disrupted a march in support of a migrant worker injured in an acid attack.