Four U.S. hostages were shot dead on a private yacht last Tuesday. The incident was the deadliest yet involving Americans who were kidnapped for ransom in the extremely dangerous coasts off Somalia.

The hostages were shot by the pirates before Special Forces from America boarded the vessel, according to a statement from the U.S. military.

The U.S. troops took control of the ship and killed two pirates. Fifteen other pirates were found on the site and were taken into custody. The military said the U.S. Special Forces found two dead pirates when they arrived. However, the pirates were not slain by the U.S. forces.

According to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the government of United States was deeply upset and saddened by the death of four kidnapped American citizens. The murder was a terrible act that emphasized the need for more worldwide collaboration against pirates.

Although pirate gangs usually target big merchant ships with oil tankers as the prize, kidnapping foreigners gets them even higher ransoms. At the end of January, there were about 750 pirate hostages.

The American hostages killed on Tuesday were Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay from Seattle, as well as Jean and Scott Adam who are from California.

On Tuesday morning, negotiations had already been under the way with the pirates. But, U.S. military said a pirate fired a grenade at the guided-missile USS Sterett without any warning. Then, gunfire burst out on the pirated vessel.

Head of U.S. naval forces in the region Vice Admiral Mark Fox said they intended to go through a negotiated process and to never reach a point where there would actually be gunfire.

An American detained in Pakistan for shooting two armed men was working as an undercover for the Central Intelligence Agency or CIA at the time when he was taken into custody.

This revelation is expected to further hold back the efforts of the U.S. government to free the individual, and aggravate the relationship between both countries that are only partnered by a delicate alliance to fight against terrorism.

According to unnamed current and former U.S. officials, Raymond Allen Davis had been secretly working for CIA as a security contractor intended for the U.S. consul’s office located in Lahore. He is a former soldier in the Special Forces command and left the military in 2003.

Davis shot the men in a city located east of Lahore as they moved towards him on a motorcycle. He said it looked like they were attempting an armed robbery. A Pakistani bystander died when he was hit by a car speeding up to help Davis. Davis was alleged carrying papers with several identifications, a pocket telescope and a Glock handgun.

The disclosure that David was a former employee of the CIA appeared in the midst of a chaotic argument over his immunity guided under the international rules used to protect civil servants overseas.

Protests in Pakistan occurred when Davis’ affiliation with the CIA was published in the Guardian newspaper in London. The government of the United States has emphasized that Davis had diplomatic immunity. Thus, he should have been freed immediately.

From the time that Pakistani authorities arrested the former Special Forces soldier in January 27, officials from United States said that the situation has gradually progressed into a crisis. It threatens the ability of the CIA to stop a frightening war against militants and al-Qaida.

Some Congress members have even warned the will try to stop the billion dollars worth of funding to Pakistan if Davis is not yet released.

A flight from Delta Air Lines made an emergency landing over Florida last Sunday when the aircraft experienced an engine failure. Authorities said the plane landed with no injuries to the passengers or crew on board.

The Delta Flight 1846 was a Boeing 737-800. It had 119 passengers, with six crews on board. According to Anthony Black, the Delta spokesman, the plane was bound for Minneapolis. It had an engine failure soon after it took off from the city of Fort Lauderdale at around 7:30 in the morning, local time.

Black said the captain received a warning indicating possible damage to one of its engines while they were taking off. The captain shut down the engine as a precautionary measure and decided to go back to the airport.

In the Fort Lauderdale airport, the plane landed safely and without any incident. The passengers were brought back to the gate while the plane was examined by fire rescue and aircraft officials, said spokesman Allan Siegel from Florida Aviation Department.

Siegel added that representatives from the Broward Country Sheriff’s Office then found several pieces of what seems to be parts of the ruined engine from a particular area around the airport.

The passengers were subsequently transferred to another Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Black said the flight was en route to Minneapolis. However, the replacement craft was not part of the flights going in and out of St. Paul International Airport that were canceled because of immense winter weather in Minneapolis on Sunday.

A relentless winter storm was hammering across the upper Midwest, leaving up to 15 inches of snow on Sunday. Areas from Dakotas all the way to Minnesota, including Wisconsin were declared white-out conditions.

State officials advised not to travel in South Dakota where most roads were not yet closed. The  majority of roads in southern Minnesota were already covered in snow. Drivers have limited visibility and airlines canceled many flights.

Travel will be difficult because of the snow and ice in southern Wisconsin, the National Weather Service said. Forecasters even anticipated several inches of snow to cover southern Wisconsin along with some chilly rain that could accumulate ice in some places.

The Weather Bureau expected the storm to leave up to 15 inches of snow from Sunday to midway Monday in Minnesota. Previous weather forecasts even expected the snow to accumulate up to 18 inches in some areas of Minnesota.

The National Weather Service  said blizzard conditions were already developing in south and west of Minneapolis. New Ulm and Lester Prairie were having nearly 8 inches of snow. Meteorologist Tony Zaleski said the snow is blowing around 20 to 30 miles per hour.

Airline operations were reduced because of the high winds brought by the storm. The majority of the flights were canceled at St. Paul International Airport in Minneapolis. Delta Air Lines also canceled hundreds of its flights on Sunday.

From December until the most recent storm, the total snowfall in the Twin Cities had already reached more than 61 inches. In fact, it is the fifth snowiest season on the record based on the statistics of National Weather Service. Additional 10 inches of snow would bring it to the second snowiest winter on record following the 76.9 inches of snow in 1981-82.

People looking for cheap airfares to travel this summer might need a bit of luck to find them. Currently, airlines are holding back their great deals and discounts durring most summer travel periods. However, they are already giving out astounding bargains for both international and domestic flights this spring.

Delta Air Lines offered the lowest cost for round trip tickets to some European cities last Tuesday. Taxes where even included in the $138 airfare. Within a few hours, the offer was gone. This led some experts to say it was an error in pricing.

Lufthansa also mistakenly priced its flights without fuel surcharges, according to George Hobica, the founder of airfarewatchdog.com, which is a travel advice website. Again, the low-priced fares did not last long.

Although some seat sales for spring flights are unexpected and difficult to find, most of them are rather easy to spot. Discounts for flight fares often occur from Tuesday until Thursday. In fact, Southwest Airlines and other airlines offered a $138 round trip flight to many U.S. destinations.

According to Tom Parsons from the travel website, BestFares.com, airlines usually promote a lot of sales. However, the discounts right now are limited to travel flights before the month of May. He said travelers should find an airline that will extend a sale into summer, and when they do, their credit cards should be ready.

The CEO of FareCompare.com, Rick Seaney said round trip fares are expected to increase to $250 since airlines are not yet giving discounts for summer trips. He said airlines usually give bargains three months before the start of summer vacation to measure the demand on travel.

Last summer, air fares rose as travel demand increased. Airlines strictly controlled the number of seats and flights. The Federal Aviation Administration predicts that more people will be travelling this year than last year.

American companies are expecting a 5-percent increase in their total travel expenditures this year. The rise is twice the growth rate last year just after a two-year decline in business. This shows a positive sign in the economy, thus perking up airlines, hotels, as well as car-rental companies.

Companies spent around $228 billion in business travel last year. The slight boost helped American airlines place their first collective earnings in three years. Reports showed increasing profits at various hotels like Marriot and Hyatt, including car-rental establishments.

Industry officials say the come back of corporate retreats is the most important sign of recovery. At the bottom of the recession, corporate retreats had disappeared as part of business companies’ effort to cut down overspending while the economy was weakening.

Travel is an important part of company’s success, according to corporate managers and executives. They send workers such as salesman, as well as top executives on the road to let their clients know they are valuable. Today, many companies travel budget are almost back to pre-recession state.

The economic output of United States returned to the pre-recession state in the last quarter of 2010. It is also predicted to grow more in 2011.

However, business travel outflow isn’t likely to come back to its pre-recession state until mid 2013 since companies are asking their workers to travel thriftily, said Michael W. McCormick, the Global Business Travel Association executive director.

Business travel managers tell their employees to stay fewer nights and at less extravagant hotels, hire smaller cars and get cheaper air flights.

The success of the travel industry has always been closely related to the country’s economy, as well as corporate spending. Generally, convenience is the greater concern of most business travelers than price. Since business traveling is back, the travel industry is also getting significant benefits.

The new Gehry building and parking garage are helping revive the corners of Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. The open-air parking garage evolved into a modern gateway to the café scene of Lincoln Road that matches the innovative concert hall designed by Frank Gehry on the other end of the road.

1111 Lincoln Road is not just an ordinary parking garage. It is often visited by residents and tourists alike. The building’s fifth level has high-end shopping stores while the developer’s penthouse apartment can be found at the top.

It was designed by the Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron, who also designed the Bird’s Net stadium in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

The building has a gray concrete structure that looks unfinished in comparison to other parking garages. It has no exterior walls, but the seven parking levels feel more like terraces to the scenic views of Miami Beach. It opens to a black and white tiled plaza with bubble-like sculptures and shaded pools.

Developer Robert Wennet said people like the building not because of its cool stores, but because there is something to look at. Wennet said he did not plan to create a masterpiece when he purchased the land and its adjacent bank building.

Local zoning laws required a parking garage for the site, but Wennet wanted something that could serve as a public space and refurbish the original entrance to the Lincoln Road.

Gehry also created a new home for the New World Symphony as requested by its founder and artistic director, Michael Tilson Thomas. The white box-shaped building opens through a glass wall that shows a lobby lounge, spiral staircase and administrative offices. Rehearsal rooms are also enclosed in glass, some are visible from the lobby while others from the street.

Founded in 1987, the New World Symphony is an orchestral academy. They had performed and studied in a revamped 1930s movie house on Lincoln Road since 1989. Gehry saved much for the building’s new interior. He said it was more appropriate to work on the building from the inside.

Founder Thomas said he wanted a building that would break the barriers between musicians, audiences and people intimidated by classical music.

A huge winter storm overwhelmed airports on Wednesday which caused airlines to cancel more than 6,000 flights for the second day in a row. They gave up all flights in or out of Chicago, where for a while the only plane that landed at O’Hare International brought the Blackhawks hockey team.

The airlines have canceled more than 13,000 flights in two days, according to flight tracking service FlightAware.com. The cancellations were focused at O’Hare, one of the most important air hubs in the nation.

The airlines’ decision to stop flying in Chicago waved out to airports situated around the country since even travelers who aren’t destined to go to Chicago catch connecting flights there on American or United, which use O’Hare as a hub.

Snow and ice hampered flights elsewhere too. Southwest Airlines Co. canceled some morning flights on Wednesday from Columbus, Ohio, and its entire morning of flights from Dallas.

There were 474 flights going in and out of Boston that were cancelled and 639 at New York LaGuardia, according to FlightAware. In total, there were 1,356 flights were scrubbed at the three large New York-area airports as a result of the ice and snow.

American Airlines was more troubled by a slowdown at its largest hub in Dallas after ice layered the runways on Tuesday. The sum of 1,600 cancellations by American, as well as regional partner American Eagle already added up to almost half of their schedule, spokesman Tim Smith said.

A charter flight bringing the hockey team Chicago Blackhawks landed around noon although most airlines stopped trying to fly by Tuesday night at O’Hare. Steve Kasteler said it is critical for the team to arrive home and rest.

Tennessee tourism, heightened by music and mountain peaks throughout the year, coped with continuous snow and bone-chilling cold weather in January.

The state was hit with abundant snow and subfreezing temperatures from border to border. It has an estimated 50 million visitors per year and officials and other establishments have taken actions to cover up the winter blues.

To clear the snow, officials at Graceland in Memphis utilized a small plow so Elvis fans could go to his famous home for tours. The show must go on, cited Kevin Kern, the Spokesman for Elvis Presley Enterprises.

The Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge had an ice-carving event as a positive response to winter weather. They where closed one day but the site still attracted 41,000 attendances in January.

The plow helped clear the snow at driveways and parking lots in Graceland, which has an estimated 600,000 visitors from all over the world every year.

Although some activities were curtailed during Wilderness Wildlife Week in the Smoky Mountain resort town. Visitors were down from 24,000 earlier last year to 19,000 because of the snow, there were still visitors from 28 different states for hiking, talks and related events.

In January, Nashville had about 6 inches of snow amounting to three snowfalls and they had five straight days of below-freezing temperatures. The Country Music Hall of Fame Museum closed for a day, which cost them some $7,000.

Tourism in Tennessee is a $14 billion industry per year. They are a popular destination for many U.S. citizens. In fact, Pigeon Forge’s Downey said that some travelers actually hope to see winter weather. He said people come to Tennessee from Florida in their desire to see snow, and they would be disappointed if there is none.

Egypt’s tourism industry and its economy are already hurting because of the presence of unending violence in the country. It is also lifting fears that other countries in the Middle East will be suffering as well.

Many travelers from United States have canceled their trips to Egypt. Some tour operators are avoiding the country while Delta Air Lines and EgyptAir postponed flights from the U.S. to Cairo.

The timing of political uncertainty and violence could not be worse in Egypt as winter is the popular season for visitors. However, large tour operators and cruise companies have canceled their Egyptian stops.

Tours going to other areas in the Middle East have not been canceled yet, but travel agents are already getting a continuous flow of questions about the status of the planned trips.

For a country that struggles with poverty, Egypt’s major industry is tourism. It accounts for 5 to 6 percent of the country’s total domestic product, according to several estimates. Often, Egypt is also the starting point for people to explore Jordan and other parts of Northern Africa.

After Johannesburg, Cairo International Airport is the second-largest airport in Africa. It handles an estimate of 16 million passengers a year. Most of them are tourists, said the Egyptian Tourist Authority in New York.

Investors were evidently concerned about the chaos that this situation might cause. Dubai’s major stock market index decreased to more than 4 percent on Sunday while stocks decreased to almost 2 percent in Kuwait and 3 percent in Qatar. Although Saudi Arabia’s main index increased 2.5 percent, it was only a partial recovery from their 6.4 percent drop on Saturday.