The 2008 summer tour follows on the heels of a remarkable few years in which Petty and the Heartbreakers have gone from strength to strength. The band’s sold-out 30th anniversary tour was the biggest of their career. The Peter Bogdanovich-directed documentary “Runnin’ Down A Dream,” a commercial and critical success for the band, established the Heartbreaker’s story as a striking embodiment of the American Dream. After the film premiered at the 2007 New York Film Festival, audiences worldwide saw the Heartbreakers’ story of triumph both in theaters and at home.

The summer tour promises to be a further affirmation that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are indeed one of the best live bands in the business. As in past years, the Heartbreakers will travel with a very special, handpicked support act. Previous tours have featured special guests including Jackson Browne, Pearl Jam, the Strokes, the Allman Brothers, Stevie Nicks, and others. This summer tour continues the tradition of great musical packages, with legend Steve Winwood opening every show.

The ability to move freely between Member States is one very concrete outcome of greater union in Europe. But with mobility comes potential insecurity. What happens if I get sick on holidays in Italy? Is insurance reciprocal when I work abroad in the EU? How is the hospital bill processed? The little blue European Health Insurance Card (eye-readable EHIC), valid since June 2004, takes the worry out of inter-European travel and work assignments, replacing a number of different forms that needed to be carried while on the move, such as the E111 and E110. This plastic card legally(1) entitles insured citizens from EU/EFTA countries to equivalent (unplanned) healthcare while abroad in any of the other 27 Member States or four EFTA countries.

This means the eye-readable EHIC has been implemented in a total of 31 countries Europe-wide. Quite an achievement already! “But this is all back-story to the challenging task we now face of digitizing the process,” says Noël Nader, director for international areas at GIE Sesame-Vitale in France who heads a consortium of Commission-funded partners now deploying ICT solutions to simplify and improve EHIC.

AFTER its launch in Ghana last July, the Akwaaba Travel Insurance Policy gathered international recognition. On Friday the 7th of December, State Insurance Company of Ghana (SIC) introduced the product to UK dwellers in a launching that was chaired by Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, His Excellency Annan Cato. Organized by Logik Media, the launching was held at the Royal National Hotel in Bedford Way, London. Akwaaba Insurance Policy, the unique web-based policy, is meant to provide Ghana-bound travelers access to medical care and medical emergencies whilst in the country. It’s also planned to serve as an alternative to the National Health Insurance Scheme for Ghanaian residents abroad planning a visit home.

Akwaaba Insurance Travel Policy is a necessary element that complements Ghana’s tourism promotion drive and it is unique because it can be purchased via the internet. Akwaaba Insurance Policy comes in two different packages; ‘Akwaaba Leisure Package’ and ‘Akwaaba Gold Leisure Package’.

Designer holiday homes offering a kind of luxury almost unheard of in this country a generation ago are popping up on sea and lake coastlines throughout New Zealand. They may still be the preserve of the wealthy minority, but more and more New Zealanders - and foreign visitors - are buying into the lifestyle.

And one thing they have in common is very deep pockets.” Some places in Queenstown are going for up around $6 or $7 million,” said Mike Harper from Bayleys in Whitianga.” One holiday home in Mt Maunganui sold recently for $8m. It was absolutely amazing, indoor heated swimming pool - everything.” We are talking to people who have sold fairly substantial businesses and looking at retiring. They are very, very private and money is not really an object.

They want a place where they can totally relax.” We get a lot of people from the UK and US coming for six months a year. Some of them are semi-retired and operate businesses through the internet.” Harper has one property listed for just under $4m. The Bayleys website includes another at Omaru Bay, Waiheke, for almost $5m.It features a private swimming beach, with two boat moorings and a sundrenched deck, half the length of a rugby field.

For many viewers, the real star of BBC’s Sense and Sensibility is the remote, clifftop cottage to which the Dashwood family retreats when they are edged out of their home at Norland Park. And the good news is that it is available for holiday lets. Set on the Hartland Abbey estate near Bideford, Devon, it has four bedrooms, a living room with an open fire and views over the sea or hills” I’ve never seen anywhere with such a romantic, isolated setting,” said Charity Wakefield, who plays Marianne Dashwood.

During the holidays Indianapolis comes to life with festive activities to enjoy with family and friends. The always popular Circle of Lights® presented by The Contractors of Quality Connection and Electrical Workers of IBEW 481 will light up Monument Circle, with its 4,784 multi-colored lights, in Mid Nov and it will stay decorated until the first of the year.

A favorite destination of ours if the Indianapolis Zoo, which is transformed into a winter wonderland with one million lights and 150 holiday sculptures for Kroger Christmas at the Zoo & Indiana Rail Road Co. presents Holiday Trainland from the end of Nov. to the end of Dec. If you love history check out several of Indy’s historical landmarks that are exhibiting their holiday cheer. The James Whitcomb Riley Home displays traditional décor of a Victorian Christmas beginning in Mid Nov.

The President Benjamin Harrison Home will host a Family Christmas at the President’s House on in Mid Dec. Continue your celebration of the holidays with the holiday home tour with Christmas at the Lilly House, on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Decorations adorn the interior and exterior of the historic residence the entire month of December. On the lighter side, check out the Leg Lamp from A Christmas Story at the Indiana Historical Society’s Holidays in the Heartland.

Home goods retailer Williams-Sonoma Inc reported a decline in its holiday same-store sales on Tuesday and gave a weak outlook for the current quarter and upcoming fiscal year, sending its shares down 15 percent in premarket trade. The owner of the Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn and West Elm chains said sales at stores open at least a year fell 0.4 percent in the nine weeks ended Dec. 30, hurt by weak demand for home furnishings. Net revenue for the period rose to $1.02 billion from $977.8 million a year earlier, but the increase was less than expected. Williams-Sonoma, which said the weakness has continued into January, cut its outlook for its fourth quarter, which ends on Feb. 3.

It now expects earnings of $1.11 to $1.14 per share on revenue of $1.36 billion to $1.39 billion. Analysts on average were expecting $1.20 per share on revenue of $1.39 billion, according to Reuters Estimates, based on the company’s prior forecast for earnings of $1.19 to $1.25 per share on revenue of $1.39 billion to $1.42 billion. For the next fiscal year, the company said it expected net earnings per share to decline at a mid-to-high single-digit percentage rate, with net revenue flat to down in the low single digits.

TravelInsuranceQuotes, Canada’s leading online travel insurance provider, launch new feature upgrades to its Travel Insurance Quotes System (“TIQS 2.2”). TIQS 2.2 now enables customers to answer medical questionnaires online from all its participating Canadian travel medical insurance companies. Additionally, once the travel insurance medical questionnaires (and other editable features) are completed, customers can save and retrieve their customized comparative travel insurance quotations.

These new functionalities reinforce the value of TravelInsuranceQuotes.ca online quotation system as the best place to shop for Canadian travel insurance. Canadian seniors completing the medical questionnaires will unlock comparative rates based on personalized medical history. Online medical questionnaires further facilitate the Canadian senior traveler marketplace (“Snowbirds”) by providing one-stop access and 24/7 availability.

Completing the medical questionnaires will return premium, deductible options, and pre-existing condition clause based on the rate category determined by the medical answers. Additionally, once the medical questionnaires (and other editable features) are completed, customers can save and retrieve their customized comparative quotations should they need to return to the system at a later date to continue researching their ideal coverage.

Health care is a long way from the easy-to-use price comparisons of the travel industry, but help is on the way. Two Michigan hospital systems — Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids and Oakwood Healthcare System in Dearborn — are leaders in posting hundreds of prices as well as quality measurements on their Web sites.

Earlier this month, the Michigan Health & Hospital Association also began posting charges and average payments for 50 common procedures for Medicare patients. One tip: Charges or sticker prices are often twice what insurance plans pay for hospital care. If you don’t have insurance, try to negotiate a lower payment.