Heading out this Easter? Here are road travel tips

Travel

The Department of Tourism shares essential travel safety tips to help South Africans stay safe on the roads and avoid holiday disasters.

As South Africans embarked on Easter holiday travels, the Department of Tourism emphasised road safety, urging motorists to exercise caution and responsibility.

The department highlighted the importance of safe travel during the festive season, focusing on road safety measures.

Good Friday will be celebrated on 18 April this year, kickstarting several public holidays, including Easter Sunday. This will be followed by a public holiday on Monday,21 April, and then Freedom Day, and another public holiday later in the month.

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Motorists have been advised to ensure their vehicles are roadworthy, plan their routes in advance, and take regular breaks to avoid fatigue.

“Whether you are travelling in a group or alone, we want to ensure you have an unforgettable stay as you explore our beautiful country responsibly,” the department said.

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Safety measures on the road

The department is urging motorists to heed the following:

Road signs: South Africa follows left-hand traffic. Be extra vigilant for stop signs, which can be placed in unexpected locations.

Road conditions: Potholes can be hazardous. Reduce speed and navigate with caution.

Pedestrians: Be aware of pedestrians who may wander onto the road.

Livestock: Remain mindful of livestock that could wander onto the road in rural areas.

Traffic lights: Traffic lights are nicknamed ‘robots’ in South Africa. If a traffic light malfunctions, treat the intersection as a four-way stop which works on a first in, first out basis.

Seat belts: Wearing seat belts is mandatory for all occupants.

Mobile phones: Using a mobile phone while driving is illegal unless it is hands-free.

Wildlife: If driving through a safari park, strictly follow the park’s rules and regulations. Stay inside your vehicle at all times and admire the animals from a safe distance.

Speed limits: Always adhere to the posted speed limits to ensure your safety and avoid fines.

Navigation: Downloading offline maps on your phone or using a GPS device is a wise precaution.

Avoid driving at night in areas that are not well-lit.

Keep your car doors and boot (trunk) locked and the windows up when stopping at traffic lights.

Keep bags out of view to prevent ‘smash and grab’ opportunists.

Park in well-lit areas

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Emergencies and roadblocks tips

Confirm that all doors are securely locked when you leave your vehicle, as remote jamming is a worldwide phenomenon.

Stay alert and awake. Rest at a well-lit roadside petrol station or coffee shop.

Breakdowns: stay calm, pull over to a safe location away from traffic, turn on your hazard lights and call for roadside assistance.

Do not stop in deserted areas to talk on your cell phone or even relieve yourself.

If stopped by the police or metro police at a roadblock with other vehicles, pull over safely and activate your hazards. Remain cooperative. If an unmarked vehicle pulls you over, and you feel unsafe, proceed cautiously with your hazards to the nearest well-lit police station, shopping complex, or busy area. If anyone tries to force you out of the road, do not panic; just constantly hoot to draw attention.

Our police are there to keep you safe. Legitimate safety officers will always be in uniform, wear a name badge, and drive marked cars.

Traffic Fines: Never pay a traffic fine directly in cash. The police or metro police officer will issue you a fine if you have done something wrong, which must be paid at a police station or magistrate’s court.

Support contacts

Furthermore, the department advised that travellers should keep their personal belongings to themselves and not share their banking details or pin code with anyone.

“Should you require support or find yourself in distress, contact the authorities for assistance: South African Police Service on 10111 and emergency ambulance on 10177,” it concluded.

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‘Secret’ star Gwei Lun-mei gears up for adrenaline-pumping action film ‘Drive in Taipei’

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

A scene from ″Drive in Taipei″ starring Taiwanese actor Gwei Lun-mei [SPECIAL MOVIE CITY]   Gwei Lun-mei, best known for her delicate role in the 2007 Taiwanese romance “Secret,” trades innocence for adrenaline in her latest film, “Drive in Taipei,” slipping off her high heels to test drive a bright red Ferrari 488 Pista Spider through the streets of Taipei.   The film, released in Korea on Friday in 4DX special theaters, marks the return of Gwei as an action star in a high-octane car chase thriller set in Taiwan’s capital, in a shift for the Taiwanese actor who is widely known in Korea as a “first-love” icon.   Related Article   The film, which opened in France and Taiwan last September, has drawn praise from action fans for its tightly executed chase sequences and gritty fight scenes, drawing comparisons to franchises like “Taken” (2008-2014) and “Fast & Furious” (2001-).   In the film, Gwei plays Joy Kang, the stylish wife of crime boss Chairman Kang, played by Sung Kan, living a life of luxury in Taipei with their son Raymond, played by Wyatt Yang.   Her world is upended when she unexpectedly crosses paths with John Roller, played by Luke Evans, an undercover drug enforcement agent from her past. What begins as a chance encounter soon turns into a dangerous escape, with Joy abandoning her husband’s empire for a desperate high-speed flight through city streets and rural roads.   True to its title, “Drive in Taipei” commits fully to its chase-driven narrative. The movie features elaborate car sequences that weave through both the neon-soaked cityscape and the Taiwanese countryside. These scenes, paired with dynamic hand-to-hand combat, maximize the visual energy of the film, which is also screening in 4DX to heighten the experience.   A scene from ″Drive in Taipei″ starring Taiwanese actor Gwei Lun-mei [SPECIAL MOVIE CITY]   Gwei’s performance stands out, not only for her physicality but for the confident, unflinching persona she adopts — closer in spirit to the tough heroines of Luc Besson’s action films than to her earlier romantic roles.     “I’ve always been good at driving,” her character says calmly before launching into another breathtaking chase.   Familiar faces from the action genre round out the cast. Luke Evans and Sung Kang, both veterans of the “Fast & Furious” franchise, lend the film additional credibility in its street-racing scenes.   While the plot remains relatively straightforward, the movie excels in pace and spectacle. For viewers seeking raw speed and immersive fight choreography, especially in a 4-D screening, “Drive in Taipei” delivers an unrelenting ride.   The film runs 100 minutes and is rated 15 and over.   Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.      BY CHOI HYE-RI [[email protected]]

‘Crane Creek’ Melbourne-based movie to start filming in Brevard in April 2027

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

Once largely forgotten in local history, the three Black freemen credited with founding Melbourne’s predecessor community shortly after the Civil War will be showcased on the silver screen in the upcoming movie “Crane Creek.”And — though few details are known about these emancipated slaves’ lives — moviegoers may detect creative parallels with the 1989 Academy Award-winning Civil War drama starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman, the producer said.”This is ‘Glory’ in the swamplands of Florida,” said Mark Spates Smith, executive producer and writer of “Crane Creek.””Love story? Absolutely. High stakes? Absolutely. Real history? Yes, of course. The film will mark every single point in the research,” Smith said.The Melbourne Regional Chamber and Greater Palm Bay Chamber of Commerce are drawing attention to “Crane Creek,” a $7 million motion picture scheduled to start filming in Brevard County in April 2027 by Los Angeles-based HGMi Studios.Smith, an actor, director and singer, is the firm’s president and chief creative officer. His television acting credits include “Chicago P.D.,” “Chicago Fire” and “The Poet.””Our film is based on the research of Dr. (Teri) Jones. It gives us an anchor. But the film has its own narrative arc that is going to have a large space, as far as creating that from a Hollywood perspective and a film perspective,” Smith said.Line Street Cemetery: Unmarked graves: Bygone burial plots found outside fence at Melbourne historic Black cemeteryTo introduce the project, Smith is organizing a pair of Friday events at the Florida Institute of Technology. First, an invitation-only breakfast takes place at 8 a.m. at the recently relaunched Vertex applied innovations hub on Palm Bay Road.Then Friday evening, a “Crane Creek” cocktail reception is scheduled at the Gleason Performing Arts Center. General admission tickets cost $65, and hours are 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.The cocktail event will feature filmed readings from the screenplay, pre-production insights and research that inspired the screenplay, a live scoring session by the film’s music supervisor, hors d’oeuvres and music.’This was a wild place. And these men built lives here.’Melbourne’s predecessor community, Crane Creek, was founded by three emancipated slaves: Peter Wright, Wright Brothers and Balaam Allen.In 1860, only 246 hardy pioneers lived in the remote subtropical wilderness of Brevard County, census records show. One year after the Civil War ended, the 1866 Southern Homestead Act opened more than 46 million acres of land in Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, with early priority granted to former slaves in 80-acre parcels, said Gordon Patterson, a Florida Tech historian and professor.First to arrive at Crane Creek was Wright in 1867 — who homesteaded 160 acres and later gained fame as Brevard’s “sailing mailman” by delivering mail via boat up and down the Indian River Lagoon as far north as Titusville. All three freedmen settled near the creek in and near today’s downtown Melbourne.”This was a wild place. And these men built lives here,” Patterson said.”Men of that age in the 1860s came and built a community. And that suggests something about how people seize opportunities. And by grit and determination, make lives. And that’s a noteworthy thing,” he said.”I’m an educator. And I want my 18-to-22-year-old college students to realize that others have faced formidable challenges and prevailed,” he said.Melbourne’s first white settlers likely arrived about 1877, he said, and the village of Melbourne was created in 1888 via a spoken vote by 23 people.Patterson said, “we only know the most gossamer-thin texts about these three men.” Jones concurred, saying history books only devote the occasional sentence or paragraph to Wright, Brothers and Allen. She plans to write a book on the topic.’Crane Creek’ movie in pre-production phase”Crane Creek” is in pre-production. Smith said Friday’s Florida Tech events are not fundraisers. Rather, proceeds will go toward covering event costs — he said he wants to promote the movie and build groundwork to shoot film in Brevard County.”The whole concept of bringing true cinematography to Melbourne, to Brevard County, and to do it right here on our ground, to use local actors and actresses — that’s a thrilling idea. That’s a thrilling concept,” Jones said.Meagan Happel, Space Coast Office of Tourism public relations manager and film commissioner, said he organization was unable to comment on projects that are not yet in production.Brothers and and his wife, Mary Silas, are interred at Melbourne’s historic Line Street Cemetery. This burial ground dates to 1901, was once overgrown with thick vegetation and hidden from public view, and was believed to be the resting place of 13 Black pioneers. But last October, ground-penetrating radar and electromagnetic profiling revealed 31 more unmarked, unidentified burial sites across a grassy area outside the cemetery fence.Melbourne City Hall planners have applied for a state Abandoned African-American Cemeteries grant to erect a larger perimeter fence around the expanded cemetery boundary, said Cheryl Mall, city spokesperson.Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1Support local journalism. Unlock unlimited digital access to floridatoday.com. Click here and subscribe today.

This key American business sector has a massive trade surplus with the rest of the world. Its jobs are at risk in a trade war

Business News

By Chris Isidore, CNN

(CNN) — While the White House wages a trade war on behalf of US manufacturing, the largest and most important part of the American economy — one that has a trade surplus, not a gap — is under threat.

The US trade gap, caused by American consumers and businesses importing more goods than they’re exporting, has gotten all the attention in the debate over tariffs

But we sell far more services than we purchase from other countries. This means the US service sector enjoys a trade surplus with almost every trading partner around the globe, including those at the center of the trade battle: China, the European Union member states, Canada and Mexico.

America’s trade surplus in services rose to $293 billion in 2024, up 5% from 2023 and up 25% from 2022, according to Commerce Department data.

Service sector businesses “are all industries that power American economic growth. They’re the US economy’s secret sauce,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics. “We sell a lot of services into the rest of the world and these countries know that and they’ll use it against us that if push comes to shove. They can put up trade barriers and enforce new standards before you come into the country.”

And that’s why even if tariffs brought back some manufacturing jobs, likely years from now, those US factory jobs may not make up for the loss of service sector jobs.

The service sector includes just about anything that doesn’t come out of a factory, farm, mine, or oil well. It includes retailers, restaurants and hotels, as well as software, internet and telecom providers. There are truckers and airlines, movie studios and media companies. It’s also schools and health care providers, lawyers and accountants.

Services long dominated American jobs

Jobs in the service sector have long driven the US economy, despite the image of a mid-20th century America as a country backed by manufacturers.

The service sector employed 57% of private sector non-farm workers in 1939, in the midst of the Great Depression, when the Labor Department started tracking US employment. Today, service sector businesses account for 84% of those jobs.

Manufacturers accounted for as much as 44% of private sector jobs during World War II, but that has been falling steadily since then. Last year, less than 10% of private sector employees worked in manufacturing, according to the Labor Department data. That’s primarily due to automation and the growth of the service sector. Trade is a distant third for the causes of its reduced importance.

It’s normal for manufacturing jobs to shrink as a percentage of employment as a country gets wealthier and more technologically advanced, according to Cardiff Garcia, editorial director of the Economic Innovation Group, a bipartisan public policy organization.

“That’s just the way an economy evolves,” Garcia told CNN on Thursday. “If you want to employ a big share American workers in manufacturing, you almost have to drag the economy back into the past.”

Service sector jobs at risk

Even within the auto industry, the center of much of the tariff dispute, service sector jobs outpace manufacturing jobs. About 1.3 million workers are employed at America’s car dealers, and only 1 million work at US auto plants and parts makers. And number of dealer jobs may fall if tariffs reduce the supply of cars and the price of cars increase, as is expected to happen.

That’s especially true for automakers which now face tariffs on all cars destined for their US dealerships, such as Volkswagen-owned Audi, which has no American factories.

“When the president says, ‘I don’t care if foreign cars are sold in the United States,’ the challenge of that is we have people in the United States employed by foreign car dealerships, you’re somehow saying their jobs are less worthy,” said Jason Miller, a business professor at Michigan State University.

If other countries retaliate in response to the US tariffs, that could also take aim at Americans services abroad.

For example, China, the second largest market for movie box office, is considering restrictions on US films being exported there.

In addition, the European Union could place limitations on American banks to operate as freely there. It is also weighing massive fines for US technology companies.

“Push too far, and (the EU) could tighten the screws — digital levies on Silicon Valley, regulatory clamps on Wall Street or taxes on U.S. pharma exports,” said Tobias Gehrke, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Loss of domestic business as well

And the trade war, and the other Trump administration actions on immigration, could also cut down on the number of college and university students who come here on student visas.

There are about 1.1 million international students, making up about 7% of students on all campuses, according to Institute of International Education. The tuition, room and board that they pay is not only crucial to many schools, it also reduces the nation’s trade deficit. But the Trump administration has been revoking hundreds of student visas, and even some students who are not at risk of losing their visas are becoming reluctant to attend American schools in the current environment.

International tourist visits are also expected to drop, potentially costing billions for hotels, restaurants and attractions such as theme parks.

Tourism Economics, a firm that tracks the hospitality industry, forecasts a 9.4% decline in international visitor in the US for 2025, led by a 20.2% decline in visitation from Canada. The firm also estimates that international visitor spending in the US is expected to decline 5%, which would mean a loss of $9 billion this year alone.

This is a stark contrast from the end of last year, when Tourism Economics estimated a nearly 9% increase in international visitors, with a 16% increase in spending by foreign travelers.

“Trump’s policies and pronouncements have produced a negative sentiment shift toward the US among international travelers,” said a statement from Tourism Economics.

Recession risk

On Wednesday, Delta Air Lines said it’s expecting less travel by Americans in the second half of this year; the airline will cut the seat additions that it had planned for 2025 and will trim its payrolls through attrition. CEO Ed Bastian said he now sees a recession as likely.

And there will be fewer jobs or skimpier paychecks moving goods, as well. American trucking employs 1.5 million and warehousing and storage another 1.8 million, according to the Labor Department.

About 40% of the cargo moving through the Port of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest, is coming from or going to China, said Gene Seroka, the port’s executive director. He projects a 10% drop in cargo in the second half of this year due to tariffs.

“We’re not going to see mass layoffs. But the amount of work will be much less than it traditionally has been,” he said.

The biggest danger to service jobs, though, comes from the possibility of a tariff-sparked recession, with cash-strapped Americans spending less and businesses failing or pulling back.

“Because we’re a service economy, services take the brunt of that,” said Zandi. “Health care, education, financial services. Every industry gets nailed in a recession.”

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Cyprus courts Polish tourists with Famagusta board roadshow

Travel

Cyprus is stepping up efforts to attract more visitors from Poland, with the Famagusta regional tourism board (Etap) teaming up with local hotels for a roadshow across Krakow, Poznan and Warsaw this week.Held between April 7-11, the roadshow was organised by the Deputy Ministry of Tourism and aims to strengthen ties with Polish tour operators, promoting both Cyprus and the Famagusta area as year-round destinations.

For the board, the focus is clear. To showcase the district’s unique blend of experiences, from award-winning beaches and traditional gastronomy to nature trails, diving spots and inland villages offering a taste of authentic Cypriot life.

It’s the third visit to Poland by Famagusta representatives in the past 12 months, following a familiarisation trip last October when Polish travel professionals were hosted in Cyprus for a first-hand look at the region.

The Polish market has become one of Cyprus’ most promising, with over 335,000 travellers arriving in 2024.

This year is set to see record connectivity, with 30 to 41 direct weekly flights expected from Polish cities to Larnaca Airport in the coming months.

Tourism officials noted growing interest among Polish agents in niche forms of travel—particularly romantic getaways, weddings, hiking, diving and religious tourism—areas where Famagusta holds a clear competitive edge.

Efforts like these form part of a broader strategy, backed by the Deputy Ministry and other stakeholders, to deepen partnerships and extend Cyprus’ appeal beyond the traditional summer season.

The board said, “it remains committed to supporting this joint campaign, helping to position Cyprus as a year-round destination for all travellers.”