U.S. updates worldwide caution

The State Department has updated its long-standing worldwide caution to include the possibility of terrorist attacks by chemical or biological weapons against U.S. citizens.

In a statement effective through May 4, it urged Americans overseas to avoid hotels, clubs, restaurants, beaches, places of worship and other sites where “Americans and possibly other foreigners are generally known to congregate or visit” -- or increase their security awareness when there. It also urged avoiding political demonstrations overseas.

The department on Feb. 7 issued or updated travel warnings against Iraq; Israel, the West Bank and Gaza; Jordan; Lebanon; and Syria. It noted that it has closed the U.S. Interests Section at Poland’s embassy in Iraq; there is no U.S. Embassy there. In the four other countries, plus the West Bank and Gaza, it has authorized the departure of U.S. government dependents and nonemergency employees.

Also on Feb. 7, the Bush administration raised the national terrorism alert from yellow to orange, the second-highest level. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft cited an increased likelihood that terrorists would attack Americans at home or abroad during the annual five-day Muslim hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, which began Feb. 8.

Hotels, apartment buildings and other “lightly secured targets” in the U.S. could be vulnerable, as well as “economic targets” and “symbolic targets and symbols of American power,” Ashcroft said. In response to the alert, hotels increased security, off-site luggage check-ins to airlines were canceled and some airports shut close-in parking or stepped up vehicle inspections. LAX said it was already on a “high state of alert” and continued to allow close-in parking.

-- Times staff and wires

Mexico hotel features Frida Kahlo in package

Capitalizing on the recent movie biography, the Gran Melia Mexico Reforma Hotel & Convention Center in Mexico City is offering a Frida Kahlo package featuring sites associated with the late painter.

For rates starting at $235 per room per night, with a two-night minimum, guests get lodging; admission to Casa Azul (where Kahlo and artist-husband Diego Rivera once lived) and the Dolores Olmeda museum, which has many of her works; a trolley tour of the historic district; buffet breakfast for two; and lunch.

The package is good for weekends only through the end of June, subject to availability. (888) 336-3542, www.solmelia.com.

25 French restaurants rate three stars

Paris

Alain Ducasse’s Le Louis XV in Monaco and Philippe Legendre’s Le Cinq in Paris are among 25 restaurants that have garnered the gastronomic equivalent of Olympic gold: three stars in the 2003 Michelin Red Guide to French eating establishments.

Le Louis XV had been demoted from three to two stars in 2001. Ducasse also has three stars for his Paris restaurant, Plaza Athenee. Le Cinq is the French capital’s 10th three-star eatery. Three restaurants were promoted this year from one to two stars (which means “excellent table, worth the detour”), and 38 restaurants lost their single star.

-- Associated Press

Traveler’s notes

Air Lib, France’s second-largest airline, was grounded Feb. 6 after a potential investor pulled out and the carrier’s operating license wasn’t renewed. Hundreds of its employees blocked traffic last week into Paris’ Orly airport to protest the shutdown, wire services reported. The airline has had four owners in eight years and never made a profit with any of them.... Travel Guard International has begun selling an “air ticket protection plan” that reimburses travelers for up to $100 in ticket-change fees plus up to the full ticket cost if they cancel their flight for a covered reason, such as illness, bad weather or jury duty. (800) 826-4117, www.travelguard.com.

DEAL OF THE WEEK

Paris air, hotel for under $500

You can spend four nights in the French capital starting at $459 per person, double occupancy, including airfare, on the “Springtime in Paris” package from Adventure Vacations. The deal is good for travel through March 30. The price includes lodging with private bath in the 9th arrondissement in central Paris, round-trip air from Los Angeles on France’s Corsair airline, daily breakfast and store discount cards. Hotel and city taxes are included; airport taxes, about $75 per person, are not. Adventure Vacations is a 24-year-old company based in La Jolla. (800) 600-5587.

FREE FOR THE ASKING

Getting a grip on where to tee off

“Golf in Britain” is a useful, foldable map-guide with information on more than 100 places in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland where visitors can play a round or two. Order from the British Tourist Authority. (877) 899-8391.