T A B L E_T A L K New Year's Eve 1999: Do you have plans yet? Discuss where you'll be for the changing of the millennium in Table Talk's Wanderlust area R E C E N T L Y A fiume runs through it By Thom Elkjer An American on a fly-fishing pilgrimage learns that in Italy, it's who you know that counts (11/12/98) On the road with the Smokejumpers: Part Two By The King Teen Shotguns and dead bunnies, pizza and beer -- a San Francisco band explores America (11/11/98) Tokyo sex wars: Part Two By Karl Taro Greenfeld The arrival of 24 "classy ladies" to work in a fledgling nightspot convulses Japan's new demimonde (11/10/98) Tokyo sex wars By Karl Taro Greenfeld Drug demons and sex junkies in Japan's new demimonde (11/09/98) On the road with the Smokejumpers By The King Teen What happens when a punk-rockabilly band from San Francisco tours the country in a broken-down Big Orange Van? (11/06/98) Browse the Wanderlust Feature archives Wanderlust's Official Travel Book Partner S A L O N E M P O R I U M FREE! 12-ounce bag of Salon Blend with a purchase of $30 or more. While supplies last.		- - - - - - + this week_.I N_.T R A V E L Hostages at Club Med, strikes in Italy, a Paris renaissance, Mideast warnings and more news from the travel world. - - - - - - + From ABC News Almost 300 tourists who had been taken hostage at a Club Med on the Caribbean island of Martinique were released Tuesday. The resort-goers had been held inside the club complex for three days by workers striking for a pay raise and were finally freed by police in riot gear. Club Med announced that the Boucaniers village would remain closed until further notice. - - - - - - + From MSNBC Strikes disrupted travel in Italy as well, where a four-hour walkout by workers at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport on Monday forced the rescheduling or cancellation of scores of flights. At the same time, taxi drivers began a planned four-day strike in Rome, and unions announced plans for two more airport strikes: a four-hour walkout at Milan's Linate airport on Friday and a 24-hour nationwide strike on Nov. 20. Train workers also announced plans for a 24-hour nationwide strike on Nov. 16. - - - - - - + From the Associated Press In the city's most ambitious renovation since the days of Baron Haussman 140 years ago, Paris officials announced a 25-year, $3.3-billion project to transform the city's long-neglected southeastern corner. Currently a wasteland of rusting factories and railroad tracks, the area stretches along the Seine from the Austerlitz train station to the city's beltway. Dubbed "Paris Rive Gauche," the project will "reintegrate this traditional working-class neighborhood into the city center and give Paris the balance it's been lacking," said former Justice Minister Jacques Toubon, who is overseeing the project. Plans include building university facilities, a teaching hospital, restaurants, subsidized housing and hair salons. - - - - - - + From CNN The State Department issued warnings Wednesday about travel in Israel and Kuwait in response to mounting tensions over Iraq's refusal to allow U.N. inspectors access to suspected weapons sites. The department approved the departure of all U.S. government employees in non-emergency positions, along with family members of embassy and consulate personnel, and said that private American citizens may also want to consider leaving. - - - - - - + From Reuters The U.S. embassy warned American citizens in Egypt to take extra precautions as the anniversary of last year's massacre of tourists in the southern resort of Luxor approaches. "Bearing in mind that incidents like the one that occurred in Luxor could entail attempts to exercise violence on or around the same date, all American citizens in Egypt should exercise caution and review their personal security practices, especially at tourist facilities and in or around U.S. government buildings," the consulate said on Monday. Six militants killed 58 foreign travelers and four Egyptians on Nov. 17 last year. - - - - - - + From the Associated Press The air traffic radar systems for Southern California and Chicago's O'Hare international airport temporarily failed early this week, but no passengers were put at risk, according to Federal Aviation Administration officials. A new system that guides aircraft in and out of Southern California's major airports failed for 11 minutes Tuesday evening but was replaced by a backup system. FAA spokesman Tim Pile attributed the failure to a computer glitch. At O'Hare, the main radar system went down from about 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday. This forced air controllers to switch to Midway airport's system and left a 20-mile blind spot on radar scopes. The problem may have been caused by strong winds and changing temperatures, said FAA spokesman Don Zochert. "The FAA dodged another bullet today," one air controller said. - - - - - - + From The Times of London The only surviving synagogue near Auschwitz, site of the Nazi death camp, was reopened Tuesday as a museum dedicated to the Jewish religion and culture. Organized by the Auschwitz Jewish Centre Foundation in New York, the multimillion-dollar museum project, located in the southern Polish town of Oswiecim, is designed to illuminate Jewish life in an area that has become synonymous with the death of Jews. - - - - - - + From The Complete Traveler Plans to expand Bangkok's Don Muang international airport are being delayed, the airport's deputy managing director, Phojana Simasathien, said Wednesday. Airport officials attributed the delay to bidding and scheduling problems. The $111 million expansion will not be completed until at least 2001, Simasathien said. - - - - - - + From the South China Morning Post Cathay Pacific Airlines announced that Philippine Airlines had accepted a conditional offer by Cathay toward a deal that would give Cathay effective control over PAL. Officials on both sides of the agreement emphasized that serious negotiations on a number of important issues remained. SALON | Nov. 13, 1998