A dispute over the State Department budget has pitted the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, against a fellow Democrat and head of the Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, and the Obama administration.
Mr. Conrad led an effort to slash President Obama’s $58 billion international affairs request for 2011 by $4 billion, a cut his committee approved last week. Despite protests from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and all her living predecessors, the senator stood his ground on Wednesday.
“The fact is that international funding has grown significantly in recent years,” he said. “Budgets are about setting priorities. Our budget provides a responsible and balanced approach”…
Continue reading about Cuts to State Dept. budget ignite interparty row
Have you been surprised to discover that your flight itinerary has little to do with your originally booked routing or departure and arrival times? Did you accept the changes, even though you didn’t like them? Next time, you could probably do better.
Schedule changes — those made by airline planning departments in advance, not those resulting from irregular operations — have always existed in the industry, but they used to be relatively rare and caused few major disruptions.
In recent years, however, they have become so common that I’m actually surprised when a week passes without changes in any of my future trips — I usually have about a half-dozen booked at a time…
Continue reading about Flight schedule changes overwhelm agents, travelers
The United States has made new concessions as part of its civilian nuclear agreement with India, further angering arms control advocates, while New Delhi has yet to make it possible for U.S. companies to benefit from the unprecedented deal.
In the most recent accord completed late last month, Washington agreed to Indian demands to increase the number of plants allowed to reprocess U.S.-supplied nuclear fuel from one to two, with the option of another two if India’s needs grow in the future.
At the same time, India thus far has failed to pass legislation that would release U.S. companies from liability in case of accidents related to equipment they have provided for two reactors expected to be built under the 2007 U.S.-Indian Nuclear Cooperation Agreement. That effectively prevents those firms from starting businesses in the South Asian country…
Continue reading about U.S. offers India new nuke concessions
Do you find that air travel has become a complex game of numerous airline rules, growing restrictions, oversold flights and never-ending fees? Do you feel knowledgeable enough and prepared to navigate that labyrinth before, during and even after a trip?
I often compare booking travel to a science — with so many different booking codes, fares, upgrade requirements, penalties and other conditions for changes and cancellations, it’s almost impossible for fliers to keep track of it all. That makes them heavily dependent on airline agents, and it’s well known that you can hear different answers to the same question.
It’s to be expected that average travelers have no idea in what booking class their tickets were issued — there are about a dozen coach booking classes, which are not the same as service classes — or how upgrades work. But I’ve been surprised by how many frequent fliers have no clue, either, including people who fly more than 100,000 miles a year…
Nicholas Kralev is a public speaker on topics ranging from commercial aviation and global travel to media, diplomacy and international affairs.
His unsurpassed knowledge of the air travel system, and his experience of flying almost 2 million miles and visiting more than 80 countries, give his travel-related lectures, talks and seminars rare insight and credibility. Some of the topics he can discuss in that field include:
A 10-year veteran diplomatic correspondent and a Harvard-educated international affairs expert, Kralev also speaks on diplomacy and foreign policy. In that area, some of the topics he can discuss include:
The balance between press freedom and the need for secrecy in international relations
>> If you’d like to invite Nicholas to speak at your event, click here to submit your request.
