Not only are fewer people making appointments to donate, there has been an exceptionally high no-show rate on scheduled appointments. The local blood supply has noticed a drop in donations this month. Five major blood drives, which were expected to collect 235 blood donations, were canceled due to snow and ice on the roads. This represents about 700 individual blood products lost that could have been obtained from the donations. The Central Ohio Red Cross needs about 650 blood donors a day to ensure a stable supply. The region supports 56 hospitals and medical facilities across a 27-county area with blood products that help patients who include accident victims, premature babies, those being treated for cancer or blood disorders, and individuals who need routine surgeries.

As an extra incentive to give, those who donate this month can enter to win a travel package to the BCS Championship game to watch the Buckeyes take on LSU, or win a $2,000 AAA vacation giveaway. The next scheduled blood drive in Coshocton County is Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 26 and 27, at Victory Baptist Church on Browns Lane. Blood donors must be at least 17 years of age, weigh a minimum of 110 pounds and be in general good health. To make an appointment, call the Coshocton Red Cross office at 622-0228. Walkins will be welcome.

“The engine comes with Centralized Inventory Database called rePOSITOREX for tour operators to load, manage and distribute their negotiated hotels and tour package contracts. Tour operators may optionally choose to use the B2C, B2B and Call Center booking interfaces for cross selling and up selling. This FREE offering is not just another white label booking engine and it’s deployable with your own branding - considered a breakthrough in the travel affiliate model to efficiently distribute and manage tour operators’ packages and ability to up-sell their clients some complementary travel products that AgentFactor offers from their aggregated suppliers network, without the traditional hefty price tag to implement a technology automation” Jim Menge, CEO of AgentFactor proudly declares.

Elmer Alinsog, AgentFactor EVP of Products, Business Architect & Partnerships also add, “AgentFactor’s Affiliate Dynamic Booking Engine allow tour operators to not only increase exposure of their content inventory for automated booking from our network of agents community and B2C sites that we powered on behalf of our B2B clients; but actually provide them the ability to manage their negotiated contracts efficiently and economically and centrally compare to traditional manual labor intensive reservation process. We are now accepting applications subject for approval at no risk and registration process is fast and easy.

Tour operators in Britain said on Friday that holidays to Kenya would remain suspended as long as the UK foreign office advises against all but essential travel to the whole of country. Initially, the British Federation of Tour Operators (FTO) announced that it was suspending all trips to the country until Sunday but resumption is now considered unlikely until at least later next week.  And the Kenya Tourism Federation (KTF) on Friday warned of massive lay-offs in the industry if the post-election violence that has recently rocked various parts of the country is not contained. KTF spokesperson, Mr Jakes Grieves-Cook, said the industry could slide into the post-1997 levels when clashes in Likoni, Mombasa drove the tourism sector to near-collapse unless remedial measures are taken urgently.

Speaking during a multi-sectoral press conference held at a Nairobi hotel, Mr Grieves-Cook said the 1997 slump saw 15,000 people lose their jobs. “We are, therefore, looking at the prospect of even higher lay-offs should the situation persist,” he said.  KTF brings together the associations of tour operators, travel agents, hoteliers and air operators. Mr Grieves-Cook noted that while the over 30,000 tourists presently in the country means many hotels are operating normally, lack of new arrivals will shortly reverse the gains the industry has made in the last four years.

There are about 6,000 British tourists in the country with about 3,000 on package tours. January is a peak time for tourism as holidaymakers escape the British winter for beach breaks at the Indian Ocean resorts to the north and south of Mombasa and for safaris further inland.  The 400 tourists who were due to arrive on Saturday or Sunday are now to be offered alternative venues for their holidays. Tour operators say their priority is now to get and estimated 6,000 holidaymakers who are in Kenya home safely.

There are few more disheartening sights at an airport than a red, flashing sign against your flight number on the departures board: cancelled. It is even worse if it is the night of December 23 and you are trying to get your family home for Christmas. That was the situation I faced last week at Geneva airport after a skiing holiday. Our flight was cancelled because of the fog that enshrouded London that day. Our airline, Swiss International, did not quibble over its obligations. Under EU rules an airline must offer passengers in our situation meals and overnight accommodation as well as seats on the first available flight the next day.

We were offered places on the 10 o’clock departure on Christmas Eve and two double rooms in a smart airport hotel (there were four of us) plus SF20 (£9.17) each for our supper. If we had had to pay for ourselves, the whole thing would have cost us £284.40 - nearly as much as the original cost of our flights (£340).I was still nervous that we wouldn’t get back. The weather in London was expected to lift the next morning, but more fog was forecast for Geneva. If the Christmas Eve flights were cancelled, we wouldn’t get home until Boxing Day.

The Mussel Inn, although remote, is named alongside luminaries such as Guinness (Dublin), Monstein (Switzerland) and Cascade (Hobart) in the 10 top brewers. Last year, a “beer bounty” offered by the Mussel Inn assisted the cull of thousands of possums. The inn exchanged a handle of beer in return for every possum tail delivered. Built in 1992 by the Dixon family, the inn is described on its website as “Kiwi woolshed meeting Aussie farmhouse in style”. A two-hour drive from Nelson, it is 17 kilometres from Takaka on the way to Collingwood. Next direction: keep an eye out for parked cars. A “land” telephone pole with old cellphones nailed to it is perhaps indicative of being removed from the rat race.

You might spot a celebrity face among the patrons (a colleague swears that he saw George Harrison, of Beatles fame, there one night).If you’re visiting, try the flagship brew Captain Cooker Manuka Beer. The cider and wines are all produced on the property, with homemade lemonade and ginger beer also available. Steamed mussels and mussel chowder are naturally part of the menu at the Mussel Inn Bush Cafe, which also has steak, fish and vegetarian options. In the North Island, the Bluelist also touts Napier Prison Backpackers as one of the world’s best venues for sleeping behind bars (prison variety).

It is described as New Zealand’s oldest prison. Guests nowadays can tour the hanging yard (where locals paid a shilling to watch executions), sleep in converted cells and get a mugshot taken as a memento of their time in the clink. Other New Zealand attractions listed include jetboating on the Shotover River (”one of the world’s great river trips”) near Queenstown, Te Puke’s giant kiwifruit sign (Kiwi360), Queen Charlotte Sound, and volcanic Whakaari (White Island).

SPECIAL needs pupils at Elms Bank High School are being given the skills, independence and confidence to enable them to use public transport. The Whitefield school has become the first in the borough to develop a detailed travel plan which will have enormous benefits for pupils who are not used to taking the bus. Other facets of the travel plan involve practicing going up and down escalators and boarding a bus with wheelchairs. Mrs Sarah Whitehead, teacher and Elms Bank’s health and inclusion coordinator, said: “The main objective of the travel plan is to encourage pupils, where possible, to use public transport. We are the first high school in Bury to have this travel plan which is part of the Healthy Schools Agenda.”Under the initiative, two separate groups of pupils at the specialist arts college are gaining experience of going out and catching appropriate buses.

This will ultimately give them the independence to harness public transport to the full. Mrs Whitehead added: “Recently, we had a health, safety and well-being week of which travel was one aspect. We are also part of Bury Council’s 16-19 transport group. Because we are a special needs school, everything here is on the one level. That’s why, outside, pupils are involved in practicing going up and down escalators which is another part of our travel plan.

Less than two days after returning from its winter training trip, the Hillsdale College women’s swimming team was back in action Saturday afternoon vs. GLIAC foe Lewis University. Hillsdale diver Charlotte Wolfe won both events in Saturday’s meet. Improved second-place times were turned in by Anne Verhoef, Cassie Nielsen and Meredith Scott in the meet.

U.K. food and online retailers are likely to emerge as winners from the difficult holiday reporting season, with the losers being clothing, jewelry, consumer electronics and home-related retailers such as Marks & Spencer Group PLC (MKS.LN), DSG International PLC (DSGI.LN) and Next PLC (NXT.LN). U.K. supermarket chain Asda Group Ltd. Wednesday reported strong performances in fresh food and its George clothing brand over the critical holiday season.

President and Chief Executive Andy Bond said the key holiday season was the retailer’s “best ever”, despite the sector having its worst Christmas in three years. Asda, the country’s second-biggest supermarket chain by sales, said it served a million more customers in the week before Christmas than a year earlier. Asda didn’t report specific holiday sales figures.

A day later, J Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN), the first of the three-listed U.K. supermarket chains to report, booked strong fiscal third-quarter sales following a good Christmas period, which was a welcome relief to besieged investors. Stripping out fuel, comparable sales from Sainsbury stores open at least a year, rose 3.7% in the 12 weeks ended Dec. 29 from a year earlier, slightly above analyst consensus of 3.6%, supported by promotional activity in the weeks leading up to Christmas. That compares with a 3.1% rise in the second-quarter of fiscal 2008 from a year ago.

He set up the company in 2005 with Phil Bish and Turkish civil engineer Emsal Yilmaz. Over two years on, and Turkish Homes 4 less has completed three building projects in the eastern Mediterranean areas of Alanya and Belek, and has established offices in Liverpool, Northern Ireland and Turkey. Here is his working day: I wake up in my house in Garston, with a packed suitcase at the end of my bed.

I have just come back from a four-day viewing trip with a group of prospective buyers, and crashed out as soon as I got back from Manchester Airport late last night. No time to relax, though, as I’ve got a busy day ahead of me. I quickly jump in the shower and grab a bit of breakfast before heading to the office, luckily only a short drive away to Aigburth Road. I arrive at the office to be greeted by Mick, who has opened up the shop and made us a cup of tea. I update him on how the trip went and show him the latest pictures of our Panorama Apartment development.

He is planning to re-locate to Turkey himself once his house sale goes through. I have just come off the phone with a customer who bought a holiday home from us a year ago. He would like us to start renting out his property, and wants to know how it all works. I explain to him that the rental market in Turkey is thriving at the moment, thanks to the increasing numbers of sun-seeking tourists, so it won’t be difficult to find tenants for this property.

In its second annual Global Property Hot Spots roundup, currency specialist HiFX reveals an increase in enquiries over the past 3 years regarding less traditional overseas property destinations like Bulgaria and China, while interest in old favorites such as France and Spain has declined. The report, based on an analysis of enquiries received by the firm, has found France and Spain to be consistently at the top of popular destinations for Brits buying abroad in recent years.

However, the lead of these traditional holiday home countries is being lessened by new emerging markets where investors are vying for properties that will deliver quick growth. Interest in Bulgaria in 2007 was double what it was in 2005, while enquiries relating to property in China increased from zero in 2005 to 3% in 2007, which is more than were received for more traditional destinations such as Portugal and Cyprus.

Over the last 10 years the Western world has enjoyed the biggest property boom in its history, creating a whole generation of potential property investors. Indeed, house prices have boomed in almost every developed market with the exception of Germany and Japan. But with developed economy markets at their current high, investors are increasingly turning their attention away from the traditional markets like Spain and to the emerging markets, such as Eastern Europe and (new for 2008) even farther flung destinations such as Brazil, Egypt and, the canoeist’s favorite, Panama!

According to the report, interest in Spain has decreased by 2% since 2006 and is 10% lower than in 2005. Interest in France remained steady from 2006 to 2007; however enquiries last year were down 7% compared to 2005.