In the wake of the tragic crash of Yemenia Airlines Flight 626 near the Comoros Islands, it has been revealed that French safety inspectors had serious doubts about the Airbus A310 craft and had banned it from entering the country in 2007.

Though the airline had not been placed on the European Union’s safety-related blacklist of air carriers forbidden to enter the EU, the French had banned that particular Yemenia plane from entering France.

A day after a Yemenia Airlines jet crashed into the Indian Ocean near the Comoros Islands, authorities are getting a clearer picture of exactly how many survivors have been found, and the status of the search for the plane’s flight data recorders.

In the aftermath of Tuesday’s tragic crash, chaos and confusion seemed to reign as conflicting reports were issued about both the number of survivors and the location of the black boxes.

An Airbus A310 with 153 people on board crashed into the Indian Ocean early Tuesday morning as it tried to land in the Comoros Islands amid gusty winds and rough seas.

The Yemenia Airlines jet was making its final approach to Moroni airport when it went down about nine miles off the Comoran coast.

Weather reports state that wind speeds averaged about 38 miles per hour at the time of the crash.

A number of high-profile celebrities and entertainers passed away over the last few days, including comedian Ed McMahon, pop star Michael Jackson, actress Farrah Fawcett, and TV pitchman Billy Mays.

What, you may ask, does any of this have to do with the world of travel?

Well, Mays, 50, who passed away in his sleep on Sunday, recently flew on a US Airways jet that made a hard landing, which many believed may somehow have been connected to his death.

There are a lot of hot stories in the world of travel today.

So here’s a roundup of the main travel news stories from around the world.

FAA asking airlines to come up with new anti-fatigue rules

Okay, so obviously you know not to smuggle drugs when you’re abroad. But what about the laws that you didn’t know about? Some countries have some pretty obscure laws and traditions that they can be very serious about.