The Transportation Security Administration has issued a warning for anyone travelling by air this holiday season: leave your gifts unwrapped. If you pack wrapped presents, TSA's airport screeners will rip them open and examine the contents.

It's easy to see why the TSA won't let wrapped gifts slide -- it'd be too easy for terrorists to slip threats onto airplanes. But it's not just terrorists looking to use wrapping paper to sneak things past screeners; last week screeners opened gift-wrapped packages at LAX and found 35 pounds of marijuana.

The TSA has published a "3-1-1 for Holiday Trave" guide on its website, offering travelers tips for traveling. TSA gives advice on how to dress to avoid setting off metal detectors, and even warns travelers against irreverent humor, telling them to "save jokes for after the checkpoint."

On Sunday, the United States urged its citizens to get out of Egypt as quickly as possible as President Hosni Mubarack's regime increased pressure on hundreds of thousands of protesters continuing to assemble in the streets, flaunting the state-imposed curfew.

The unrest took on new deadly dimensions as well, as gangs attacked at least four prisons, freeing thousands of convicts. The official death toll stands at 97 after five days of protesting, but witnesses report that hundreds more have died.

State Department officials in the US were hastily arranging for Americans to fly to "save havens" in Europe.

A majority of the demonstrators have gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square along with Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradi. There were also members of the Muslim Brotherhood present, who want Egypt to become an Islamist state.

Murabak further enraged protesters by closing roads around the city with tanks, and by sending F-16 fighter jets on menacing overflights of the square.

Cairo's airport was flooded with foreigners and tourists trying desperately to catch a flight out of the country, as countries around the world sought to fly in planes to remove their citizens from the dangerous situation.

The Cleveland area did get a white Christmas over the weekend, but the snowfall didn't amount to much and was more of a dusting than anything. On the East Coast, however, it was a very different story as a blizzard dumped more than 20 inches of snow on some parts of New York City and similar amounts in other cities like Boston, Newark, Philadelphia and Baltimore. This has affected numerous flights out of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, so if you are scheduled to travel eastbound, check the status of your flight before you venture out.

On Sunday, one delayed flight from Cleveland to LaGuardia in New York was diverted to Philadelphia, and when it couldn't land there it returned to Cleveland eight hours after passengers originally boarded the plane.

Click here to check status of your flight departing from CLE.

On Thursday, a massive volcano in Iceland spewed ash clouds across Europe, grounding flights across the northern part of the continent and stranding tens of thousands of passengers. Airspace was closed over Britain, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, and also affected dozens of flights in the U.S. at airports in New York and Newark.

London's Heathrow Airport has suspended all flights for the remainder of the day, and no further flights are expected to arrive or land at the airport.

Authorities say that it could take days or weeks for the ash to clear up. That doesn't necessarily mean that the airspace will be closed for that long, that's actually dependent on the weather. Einar Kjartansson, a geophysicist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office said "It depends how the wind carries the ash."

Today, the ash was blowing towards northern Europe, even hitting the UK about 1,200 miles away. All flights at London's five major airports were cancelled. Heathrow itself handles 1,200 flights and 180,000 passengers daily.

As drug violence continues to soar in the Mexican bordertown of Tijuana, the military has barred Marines from visiting. Lt. General Samuel Helland of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton said that they have restricted travel to Mexico for the units 44,000 members.

Mike Alvarez, the unit's civilian public information officer, told reporters, "The situation in Mexico is now more dangerous than usual. The intent is just to look out for the Marines' safety and well-being."

In 2008, 843 people were killed in Tijuana, a dramatic increase from the 2007 death toll of 337. Many of the murders were execution style, with bodies found decapitated.

The order was first enacted for the Christmas holidays, but the order was last week extended indefinitely.

The Transportation Security Administration is now permitting airlines to store the birth dates of their passengers. The people who will benefit most from this change are those who have similar names to one on a terrorist watchlist, and who are routinely confused for being a terrorist themselves.

The TSA says that by storing birth dates, the airlines will be able to more quickly verify that you are not the same person on the list.

Right now, TSA keeps two lists: a strict "no fly" list, and another list that flags passengers for special attention at airport check-in and security. Those with names that match those on terrorist watchlists are currently barred from checking in for their flights online. Instead, they must present themselves to an agent at their airport.

American citizens won't be required to show a passport for crossing land borders until next summer, delaying the requirement by more than a year. Those traveling across borders by air or sea are already required to show passports, and the land travel requirements were supposed to have gone into effect but have been delayed several times.

The new identification document requirements as required by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State, will go into effect on June 1, 2009. The departments announced the decision to push back the deadline Thursday this week.

When the new requirements go into effect, American travelers will need to show both identification and citizenship to cross back from Mexico and Canada. What this means for most people is that they'll need a passport.

The land travel requirements constitute the final step of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), that changes document rquierments for travelers who were previously exempt - including citizens of the US, Canada, and Bermuda. Travel to US territories does not require a passport.

Citizens now have approximately 14 months to sign up for a passport. Registering now as opposed to closer to the deadline may save you the hassle of longer waits.

The massive blizzard in Cleveland has shut down countless flights in and out of Cleveland tonight. Continental Airlines, the major carrier out of Hopkins Airport, has released this statement for people affected by the delays:

With severe winter weather forecast for Ohio through Saturday, Continental Airlines announced travel options for customers whose flight plans may be affected by the storm.

Weather conditions are expected to make air travel difficult in the area. This forecast will force some delays and cancellations of flights at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

To avoid inconvenience, travelers scheduled on flights through Saturday may wish to delay commencement of their trip.

Customers ticketed for travel through March 8 to or from Cleveland are permitted a one-time date or time change to their flights without penalty. Rescheduled travel must originate by March 15. If a flight has been canceled, a refund in the original form of payment can be requested.

The fastest and most convenient way to change travel plans is via continental.com. Customers should enter their confirmation number and last name in "Manage Reservations." Customers may also call Continental Airlines reservations at 800-525-0280 or their travel agent.

continental.com provides an overview of Continental operations as well as up-to-date information regarding the status of specific flights. Automated flight status information is also available at 800-784-4444.

Cleveland travelers will be able happy to hear the Continental Airlines has added three new non stop flights to their Hopkins Airline hub. Non stops to Greensboro, NC, Omaha, Neb., and Savannah, GA, will all begin on Monday.

"Continental is pleased to be able to expand the range of destinations from our Cleveland hub with these new flights to Greensboro, Omaha and Savannah," said Robbie Anderson, senior director, Cleveland. "We will continue to add additional nonstop destinations from Cleveland over the next few months, including Paris, which will be the second city in Europe with nonstop service from Cleveland."

Here is the schedule of the flights according to the companies press release:

The new flights to Greensboro will depart Cleveland each day at 11:45 a.m., and 7:30 p.m. Flights from Greensboro to Cleveland will depart at 6:41 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. A third round trip flight will be added on April 6, 2008.

The daily flights to Omaha will depart Cleveland each day at 9:20 a.m. and 8:50 p.m. The flights from Omaha to Cleveland will depart at 7:35 a.m. and 11:35 a.m. A third daily flight will be added on May 4, 2008.

A massive, three-alarm fire erupted at the Monte Carlo Hotel & Casino on Friday morning, sending plumes of thick, black smoke more than one mile into the air. "The Strip" was completely shut down so that firefighters could get inside and put out the rapidly spreading flames.

The fire began in the upper floors of the Monte Carlo. The top five floors of two of the hotel's three wings were affected. Flames at least 15 feet high could been seeing rising from the roof, and the thick smoke indicated a severe fire.

It is not yet known what started the fire, but firefighters believe that everyone has been evacuated and that no one is trapped inside. There have been no reported injuries.