We like to keep up on events that might impact our travels around the world and we use a number of different sources. The most well-known one in the U.S. is the U.S. State Department. They publish information about travel in many counties. The topics include information on passports, Alerts and Warnings issued for each country, visas needed to enter the country, crime, driving conditions, etc. I think the State Department tends to be very conservative relative to the U.K. and Australia but it’s a good place to start.
The State Department also runs a program for Americans called Smart Travel Enrollment Program (STEP) to enroll your international trips. After enrollment, you are connected with each Embassy and they will send alerts, if necessary.
If you want another take on security around the world, you can sign up with the U.K. Foreign Office to get alerts as they are issued. Go to www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice and enroll in “Get Updates” via email. You can choose the countries you need alerts for. I really like that the U.K. even gives information on possible travel problems due to soccer matches and other events like this. You can tell where football/soccer ranks in importance there!
One of my favorite information sources is run by United Health Care Global. Sign up for “Daily Security Alerts” and every day the alerts will show up in your email box. In addition to the “normal” crime, terrorism, and political activities, this groups publishes information about a wide variety of strikes also that can definitely have an impact on your travel – taxi strikes in Italy, rail strikes in the U.K., airline and airport strikes, etc. – as well as a list of holidays around the world. Can anyone say “Closed Museums”??
Hope this helps!