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Members of the police and armed services occupied barracks and the National Assembly building in Quito and set up roadblocks throughout Ecuador in protest of austerity measures passed by the assembly on Sept. 29. On Sept. 30, 300 air force personnel and soldiers closed the international airport in Quito for several hours.
A series of political and ethnic killings in Karachi, Pakistan, in October left more than 70 people dead, many who worked for the Awami National Party. A market in Shersah and residences in Baloch and Pathan were attacked by gunmen.
The violence was sparked by clashes over the election held on Oct. 18 for an assembly seat left vacant after a member was assassinated in August.
The Department of State warns that terrorist organizations, including Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), are active in Yemen. AQAP claimed responsibility for a Sept. 25 attack in Sana’a during which two gunmen fired on a bus with Yemeni security agents, wounding 10.
British motorcades in Sanaa were attacked on Oct. 6 and April 26. There have been other terrorist incidents.
On May 24, two US tourists and their Yemeni driver and translator were kidnapped near Sana’a.
The Department of State continues to urge avoiding all travel to Lebanon. US citizens have been the targets of numerous terrorist attacks in Lebanon in the past, and the threat continues.
While Lebanon enjoys periods of relative calm, public demonstrations occur frequently and may become violent. Demonstrators sometimes block the primary road between Beirut and Rafiq Hariri International Airport. Access to borders and seaports also can be interrupted with no warning.
The US Department of State continues to warn of the risks of travel to Nigeria. Violent crime remains a problem throughout the country, including crime by persons in uniform. Twenty-one foreign nationals have been kidnapped in Nigeria in 2010.
Since March, five improvised explosive devices have been detonated in the Niger Delta region.
Travel anywhere in Sudan is potentially dangerous, warns the Department of State, which has received information on terrorist threats against US and European interests there. Westerners have been victims of kidnappings, carjackings and armed robberies. Armed militias have instigated sporadic violence and attacked locations in southern Sudan. Land travel at night should be avoided.
Travel in the Darfur region is particularly dangerous, as clashes continue between Sudanese government forces and armed militias. The risk of kidnapping is high.
With winds gusting up to 160 miles per hour, Typhoon Megi hit the Philippines on Oct. 18, killing 28 people, destroying 31,000 thousand homes in the northeast region of the island Luzon and damaging 100,000 more.
As Megi passed through Taiwan on Oct. 20-22, its torrential rains caused flooding and landslides that left 14 dead and 23 missing. Over 47 inches of rain fell in the northeast regions.
Weakened, on Oct. 23 the storm made landfall in southeast China, an already drenched region. More than 300,000 people were evacuated from high-flood-risk areas.
• A magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck off of western Sumatra, Indonesia, on Oct. 25, causing a 10-foot-high tsunami that killed more than 431 people on Pagai Selatan and Pagai Utara, two of the Mentawai Islands. At press time, 88 others were missing.
The quake occurred upon the same undersea fault line that caused the devastating tsunami in December 2004. Any tsunami generated there would strike the Mentawis in just a few minutes.
14 days/13 nights in PERU includes six-day, seven-night river cruise. Highlights: Aboard river boat, in Pacaya Samiria National Reserve see caimans, monkeys, dolphins, birds/fish for piranha/disembark; Sacsayhuaman/Pisac Indian market/Sacred Valley/Machu Picchu. For one traveler, land and cruise for $4,943-$5,633, depending on hotel; cheaper with more travelers. Single supp., $699-$988.
GreenTracks (Bayfield, CO; 970/884-6107).
15 days/13 nights, June 11-25, 2011. Highlights: Walking tour of Antananarivo/in Mantadia National Park, lemurs, birds, reptiles/botanical garden at Fort Dauphin/baobab trees at Berenty Reserve/Isalo National Park. Land, $5,399. Single supp., $1,000.
Terra Incognita Ecotours (Tampa, FL; 877/463-9756).