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The Thai army's imposition of martial law is another blow to the country's tourist industry, adding to the economic pain from six months of destabilizing street protests as class="mandelbrot_refrag"> airlines cut back on flights and concern over insurance adds to travelers' worries. Tourism officials put a brave face on the latest twist in the long-running civil strife, saying it was too early to gauge the impact on tourist arrivals, which already dipped nearly 6 percent in the first three months of the year. "It might look scary and to outsiders it might sound violent, but if we look at it from another angle it should bring more security and peace which should reassure tourists," said Supawan Tanomkieatipume, vice-president of the Thai class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Hotels Association.   true       But some travel agencies said they expected a further fall in bookings after Tuesday's news, especially from corporate travelers, wh

When Pope Francis visits the birthplace of Jesus next week, he will address a dwindling population of faithful whose exodus from the Holy Land could turn the shrines of Christendom into museum pieces. While ever growing numbers of Christian tourists pour into Bethlehem and the adjacent Jerusalem to visit the plethora of sites associated with Jesus, many Palestinian Christians hope to join a legion of relatives who have already moved out. Christian communities have been in relative decline across the Middle East for generations, with the recent Arab revolts and the rise of radical Islam only accelerating the process.   true       The cradle of Christianity has not suffered the bloody mayhem seen in nearby class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Syria or class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Iraq , but still the Christians look to leave, blaming the Israeli occupation for withering their economic prospects and hobbling their freedom of movement. Local worshippers hope Pope Fra

At 27, Eimear McBride was a young Irish author with a string of rejections from agents and publishers. “They said my writing was very bold, and brave, but they didn’t know how to sell it. It didn’t fit into any niche,” she told Reuters. One publisher even offered to produce her novel as memoir. "They didn’t seem concerned that this hadn’t happened to me. The attitude was, 'Oh well, some of it’s true'." Ten years later she is holding a clutch of nominations for literary prizes for the same debut book: "A Girl is a Half–formed Thing."   true       Winner of the Goldsmiths Prize 2013, shortlisted for the Folio Prize, the Bailey’s Prize for Fiction, the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award; and longlisted for the Desmond Elliot Prize - what does all that recognition feel like? "Wonderful. I thought it would be in the drawer forever, so to have recognition, see people react and know that I have achieved the effect I wanted to achieve, is great.&

A Chicago man convicted in the savage beating of an Irish exchange student, which left her unable to walk or speak, faces up to 120 years in prison when he is sentenced on Thursday. Heriberto Viramontes, 35, was found guilty last October of bashing two young women over the head with a wooden bat and robbing them in April 2010, including Natasha McShane, then 23, a graduate student from Northern class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Ireland . The attack, which took place in a neighborhood popular with young adults, brought international attention to the problem of violent crime in Chicago, the country's third-largest city. It also stirred Chicago's large Irish-American community, which held fundraisers on McShane's behalf.   true       Viramontes was convicted by a jury of two counts of attempted murder, among other felony counts, and prosecutors are asking for a sentence of 120 years in prison. The beating left the second woman, Stacy Jurich, with ongoing health pr

Nepal has named two Himalayan peaks near Mount Everest after Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and opened them to foreigners for climbing, a month after a deadly avalanche killed 16 sherpa guides. The conquest of Everest by New Zealand’s Hillary and his Nepali guide Tenzing in 1953 popularized Nepal as a destination for mountain climbers. The Himalayan country is home to eight of the 14 peaks in the world over 8,000 meters (26,247 ft). Tilakram Pandey, a senior official at the Tourism Ministry, said the peaks - Hillary at 7,681 m (25,200 ft) and Tenzing at 7,916 m (25,971 ft) - were unclimbed so far.   true       Last month's tragedy forced hundreds of foreign climbers to abandon their attempts on Everest, and the renaming exercise marked an attempt to revive Nepal's appeal to mountaineers. "We believe climbers will be attracted to these peaks and help promote mountaineering activities," Pandey told Reuters on Thursday. "Many foreign Alpine clubs

For globetrotting Germans who love to travel and love soccer, the World Cup in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Brazil could be about as close to paradise as many might come. Some like Alex Schmeichel and six friends will spend 10,000 euros ($13,700) each - some taking out loans worth as much as a small car - to follow class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Germany around class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Brazil next month when the three-time World Cup winners try to win an elusive fourth title. "It's money well-invested," said Schmeichel, who works in public relations in Berlin. "It's an investment in our good health. We'll have a great time cheering class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Germany to the title and we'll come back refreshed and more productive in our jobs."   true       But Schmeichel and police officer Matthias Mueller, fitness trainer Lars Knobel, student Marius Purschke, property manager Tino Knobel, soc

Vladimir Putin helped release rare, orphaned Amur tigers into the wild on Thursday, the latest of several events apparently meant to portray the Russian president as an outdoorsman with a strong interest in wildlife conservation. _0"> Russian TV footage showed Putin, dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, tugging on a rope to help open a gate and let the tigers - two males and a female - lope off into the wooded taiga of the remote Amur region in eastern Siberia. The males were found as cubs in 2012, presumably orphaned when poachers killed their mothers, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which helped organize what it called the largest release of rehabilitated Amur tigers ever.   true       It said there are some 360 tigers in the wilds of class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Russia , down from more than 400 at the turn of the century, and that poaching, logging, wildfires and shrinkage in the population of the hoofed animals they prey upon post