The U.S. government said Thursday it will go ahead with plans to require travelers from Canada, Mexico and other allied nations to show a passport or other secure document to enter the country. The departments of State and Homeland Security said they expect to officially adopt the new policy, which drew complaints from travelers, the affected nations and even President Bush, by the end of the year. But they pushed back by a year the date when the requirements would begin to affect travelers.

Mississippi´s floating casinos were left in ruins after Hurricane Katrina´s rampage. The assessment was incomplete Tuesday, but Webster Franklin, CEO of the Tunica, Miss., Convention and Visitors Bureau, said all are likely to be heavily damaged or destroyed. On Sunday, The Mississippi Gaming Commission shut down all 12 casinos operating on the Gulf Coast before Katrina hit.

Reacting to the “black month” of August France published a list of airlines that aren´t allowed to fly its airspace, thus beating European regulators to the punch. North Korea´s Air Koryo, Air St. Thomas from the United States, International Air Service from Liberia, Mozambique´s Lineas AER and the Thai Phuket Airlines are all on a blacklist of airlines that breach international regulations and therefore can no longer fly in France.

AMResorts has appointed Bertha Castillo as the company´s new corporate spa director. Castillo will oversee the vision for and development of the spa facilities at the company´s 11 resorts in the Dominican Republic and Mexico under the Secrets Resorts & Spas, Dreams Resorts & Spas, and Sunscape Resorts & Spas brands. "Bertha has a wealth of experience creating world-class spas from the ground up with an eye for creating impeccable guest perception," said AMResorts President Alex Zozaya.

Dreams Cancun Resort & Spa has been awarded the ENTRÉE Travel Newsletter Golden E of Excellence by Editor and Publisher William Tomicki. Speaking from his Santa Barbara headquarters, Mr. Tomicki said that Dreams Cancun Resort & Spa was only the 35th property to be recognized in ENTREE´s 25-year history.

The New York-based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) has criticized the imposition of a visa requirement and a $400 security bond on Haitians traveling to the Commonwealth of Dominica as “an act of discrimination against the Haitian people and a flagrant violation of Articles 7, 45 and 46 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguramas. “These are issues which must be brought before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). It is foreseeable that CGID will play a role in such litigation,” so said the Institute´s President Rickford Burke.