Life

By Chris Lau and Joyce Jiang, CNN Hong Kong/Beijing (CNN) — The making of dim sum — the bite-sized delicacies hailing from southern China — is all about craftsmanship. Take har gow, or shrimp dumplings, for example: finely chopped ingredients placed on translucent wheat starch wrappers, sealed with just the right amount of finger pressure

By Rachel Tashjian, CNN (CNN) — The late fashion editor Diana Vreeland — who pioneered a spirit of probing whimsy that inflects everything from the Met Gala to “The Devil Wears Prada” to TikTok — was once asked what advice she’d give to young designers. “I think having a great sense of pleasure, and living

By Rachel Tashjian, CNN When “The Devil Wears Prada” was released in 2006, it won over countless fans: critics adored how it spikily satirized the sudsy but serious business of fashion magazine publishing; Meryl Streep, playing formidable magazine editor Miranda Priestly, and costume designer Patricia Field (who also masterminded the looks on “Sex and the

By Lilit Marcus, CNN Peleliu, Palau (CNN) — The island is lush, myriad shades of green made deeper by the effects of the morning’s rainfall. Just offshore, snorkelers float over beds of unbleached corals. Walking off the small wooden boat dock, visitors pass clumps of ficus trees and ankle-deep ferns, while cairns of gray stones

By Kati Chitrakorn, CNN London (CNN) — Buying a tailored suit is not something many would associate with Nigo, the Japanese multi-hyphenate designer who famously established the blueprint for modern streetwear with his loud, graphic-heavy, scarcity-driven designs. Yet one of the first things he did on his latest trip to London was visit the city’s

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN London (CNN) — Visitors to London Zoo will soon be able to watch its vets in action as they carry out operations, health checks and necropsies at a planned new wildlife health facility. The zoo, which celebrates its 200th anniversary this week, has announced plans to build a new medical center

By Jack Guy, CNN (CNN) — A photo of a gannet with grass blowing over its face has been voted winner of the People’s Choice award at the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards. “Now which direction is my nest?” by Alison Tuck captures the scene on a windy day at Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire, England, during

By Francesca Street, CNN (CNN) — Every time you board a flight, you’re stepping into a matrix — a web of choices that have been made for you weeks, sometimes months, before departure. Most travelers won’t think about these behind-the-scenes machinations as they squeeze their carry-on into the overhead, slump into their seat and gaze

By Chris Dwyer (CNN) — Pancakes — in all sorts of forms, made from all sorts of ingredients — have graced tables around the world for millennia, across every culture and creed. They can be sweet or savory. Some pancakes are made with special kinds of flour such as chickpea flour. Others are made of

By Tamara Hardingham-Gill, CNN (CNN) — After deciding to cancel her June trip with friends to Dubai when the emirate became the target of Iranian strikes, Lorna Davis was determined to find a new summer vacation elsewhere for the group. Davis, who lives in London, began looking into fares for alternative breaks in destinations such

By Maureen O’Hare, CNN (CNN) — In our roundup of travel news this week: the viral “snow” spot that’s actually hazardous waste, the design concept that reinvents the worst seat on the airplane, plus CNN spends a night at the world’s biggest capsule hotel. Cozy or claustrophobic? London is one of the world’s most expensive

By Maureen O’Hare, CNN (CNN) — The dense forests, twisting rivers and granite peaks of Northern Ireland’s Mourne Mountains have lived many lives and assumed many names. They’re Westeros in “Game of Thrones.” They’re “Krypton” in the Superman prequel. They’re also Transylvania in “Dracula Untold”, Sherwood in the upcoming “Death of Robin Hood” and the

By Jessie Yeung, CNN (CNN) — Anxiety is growing at Everest Base Camp, more than 5,300 meters above sea level. Hundreds of climbers including sherpas have gathered, eager to summit the world’s most famous mountain as the annual spring climbing season kicks off – but there’s one problem. A massive serac, or a block of

By Francesca Perry Milan (CNN) — Held every springtime, Milan Design Week is the biggest moment of the year for the world of design – from the makers to the admirers of furniture and interior decor. Creatives converge from all over the globe, new designs are showcased, and trends are set for the forthcoming year.

By Avni Trivedi, CNN (CNN) — The last row of economy are the airplane seats few people want to sit in. There’s no room to recline your seat and the constant line for the bathroom — not to mention the smell — can be overwhelming. But what if the space could be transformed into something

By Jack Guy, CNN (CNN) — A tourist has caused thousands of dollars in damage to a 16th-century monument in Florence, Italy, after climbing on it during a bachelorette party, according to authorities. The 28-year-old woman, whose name and nationality have not been publicly disclosed, climbed the Fountain of Neptune in the Piazza della Signoria

By Jacqui Palumbo, CNN The curator Jeffrey Uslip wants everyone to know that everything is normal. “This is the smoothest exhibition I’ve curated in 30 years,” said Uslip, who has been working on the US Pavilion at the Biennale Arte 2026 in Venice, which opens in two weeks. Uslip was insistent on the point. “I

By Leah Dolan, CNN (CNN) — This week, Rihanna fronted the cover of W Magazine in head-to-toe Dior. Her eyes were ringed in purple shadow, her cheeks blended with orange blush, and a whacky lilac buccaneer-style hat by milliner Stephen Jones framed her face. And yet even with all that to look at, all eyes

By Lilit Marcus, CNN (CNN) — Kevin Miller considers himself a bit of a travel pro. The photographer says he’s able to fit all of his camera gear into a carry-on bag and mentally puts himself into “airplane mode” as soon as he closes the door on his taxi, a process singularly pointed at getting

By Adam Pourahmadi, CNN (CNN) — Salimeh stands in her yard, a rug suspended behind her, still heavy from washing. Her clothes, patterned in vivid reds, pinks and oranges, echo the mineral-rich sands of Iran’s Qeshm and Hormuz islands, where the earth itself seems to glow. The wind lifts her veil, just enough to show

By Vivian Song (CNN) — Steve Schwarzbach has attended every World Cup event since 2006. He had no apprehensions about attending the games in countries such as South Africa and Brazil which can have a reputation — fairly or not — of being dangerous for tourists. Given the scale of the international event, he trusted

By Marianna Cerini, CNN Milan (CNN) — If Sabato De Sarno were to distill the past year into a single idea, the gift of time might be it. After a short but widely scrutinized tenure as creative director at Gucci — where his restrained aesthetic struggled to gain commercial traction during a broader downturn in

By Griffin Shea, CNN Kampala (CNN) — Walking through the compound that houses the Kasubi Tombs, the main path leads to what should be an entrance. But it ends at one of the layers of thatch covering the 25-foot structure known as Muzibu Azala Mpanga. It looks like a giant basket turned upside down. If

By Silvia Marchetti, CNN When Francis Ford Coppola cast Enza Trimarchi as an extra in “The Godfather” in 1971, the 22-year-old seamstress had no idea she was taking part in something that would change her hometown and define it for decades. Trimarchi appeared in a key Sicilian sequence: the wedding of mafia-boss-in-waiting Michael Corleone and

By Sheena McKenzie, CNN (CNN) — Backlit by an orange sky, Romeo appears. He smokes on a derelict outdoor stage; the only curtains here the blonde hair framing his face. The moody keyboard of Radiohead’s “Talk Show Host” swells, a 21-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio comes into focus, and a million teenage crushes are launched. The year

By Harmeet Kaur, CNN (CNN) — Why are TikToks about dining out so boring? Dillon Davis and Nichols Neff were debating the question from their couch in their shared Manhattan apartment late last year, as they watched one video after another of influencers visiting the same handful of upscale restaurants. Neither one had any experience

By Maureen O’Hare, CNN (CNN) — This week’s Unlocking the World newsletter is all about air travel: the world’s busiest and best-rated airports, the most innovative new seat designs, and the most ambitious upcoming flight routes. Project Sunrise Australian airline Qantas Airways’ much-talked-about Project Sunrise will see a fleet of 12 Airbus A350-1000ULRs take on

By Charlie Boyd, for CNN Geneva (CNN) — While working out what women want in a timepiece might be less philosophical than asking what they want from life or love, any watch industry finsider will tell you that the answer is (almost) as complex. This week’s Watches & Wonders showcase in Geneva certainly proved that

By Jack Guy, CNN (CNN) — Citlali Fabián has been named Photographer of the Year at the Sony World Photography Awards 2026, with the judging panel hailing her photo series focused on Indigenous activists and artists in southern Mexico. Fabián, who is from the Yalalteca Indigenous community, “uses photography to explore ways of addressing identity

By Julia Buckley, CNN Gibellina, Italy (CNN) — Sicily’s landscapes are a mix of dreamy coastline, rugged peaks and rolling hills that are every bit as spectacular as those in Tuscany. But in the far west of the Mediterranean’s largest island, amid the undulating landscape of the Belice Valley, lie two hillsides that could never

By Julia Buckley, CNN (CNN) — The Italian diaspora continued the fight against the government’s restrictions on citizenship by descent this week, as three cases were scrutinized by Italy’s supreme court. On Tuesday, the Corte di Cassazione, Italy’s highest court, met to evaluate citizenship restrictions for descendants of Italian citizens born abroad that were imposed

By Marianna Kim, CNN Every weekend, hundreds of thousands of people of all ages set out on treasure hunts in the heart of Seoul. Locals and tourists alike, many are looking for bargains on clothes, watches, jewelry, license plates, surplus foods, decades-old packs of cigarettes and various “sold only on TV items” one sees on

By Jacqui Palumbo, CNN (CNN) — Katie Holmes had not one but two major reunions at a film screening in New York on Tuesday. The first was with her original on-screen love interest from “Dawson’s Creek,” Joshua Jackson, sending every Joey and Pacey shipper hurtling back in time nearly three decades. The second was a

By David G. Allan, CNN You can stay at The Overlook Hotel, the famously chilling accommodation conjured by author Stephen King and director Stanley Kubrick in their respective versions of “The Shining.” You just need to decide which Overlook Hotel speaks to your soul. There are as many as three Overlook Hotels. There’s the one

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN (CNN) — Glamis Castle has a rich history. Reputed to be the most haunted castle in Scotland, it once hosted Mary, Queen of Scots and has strong links to the British royal family. It’s also said to have inspired William Shakespeare’s tragedy “Macbeth.” But perhaps one of its most alluring offerings

By Nina Giraldo, CNN Economy passengers can soon pay to lie down and stretch out for a few hours in bunk beds on Air New Zealand’s newest planes. The airline will offer sleeping pods, known as Economy Skynest, on new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner flights. Bookings open May 18 for select flights starting in November. The

By Francesca Street, CNN (CNN) — The double-level airplane seat concept is back, this time in what designer Alejandro Núñez Vicente calls the “ultimate, final statement.” Premiering first as a college project in 2020, then as an early prototype in 2022, over the past several years this dual-level design — called Chaise Longue — has

Lianne Kolirin, CNN (CNN) — For weeks, months and even years before World War II broke out in September 1939, many Jewish people in Germany and beyond became increasingly fearful for their lives and frantically sought out ways to flee. Now, more than 80 years after the end of the war, an incredible trove of

By Marnie Hunter, CNN (CNN) — The world’s busiest airport rankings for 2025 are out. Global air traffic last year showed significant growth, and the No. 1 airport held onto its longstanding title. But 2026 has introduced more uncertainty for air travel. Total passengers are estimated to come in globally at 9.8 billion in 2025,

By Kate Youde, for CNN (CNN) — Our Earthly concept of time looks very different in space. For astronauts on board a space station orbiting our planet roughly every 90 minutes, there are multiple sunrises and sunsets within 24 hours. What watch then, should an astronaut wear? One Swiss maker has a new solution. Luxury

By Tamara Hardingham-Gill, CNN (CNN) — They drove almost everywhere when they lived in Miami, but since moving to the Italian city of Rimini with their two children and their dog, Gaston and Norma Galella have become keen cyclists. The couple, who’ve been married since 2005, ditched their car early on and love cycling around

By Foren Clark, CNN (CNN) — The roots of French cooking run deep. The foundations of the country’s culinary empire were laid as early as the mid-1600s when chef François Pierre La Varenne penned his hugely influential “Le Cuisinier François” recipe book, which emphasized regional and seasonal ingredients and highlighted complementary flavors. “French cooking is,

By Maureen O’Hare, CNN (CNN) — In our roundup of travel stories this week: how Paris’ first female mayor transformed the city, Japan’s iconic vending machines hit troubled times, plus why more and more Americans are moving to Central and Eastern Europe. North Macedonia: beyond the big three Most visitors to Europe focus their trips

By Jake McGowan, CNN (CNN) — A painting by famed Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, valued at more than $1 million, has sold for the price of a dinner in Paris. Ari Hodara was the lucky winner of the “1 Picasso for 100 euros” raffle, which offered entrants the chance to take home Picasso’s 1941 gouache

By Blane Bachelor, CNN (CNN) — When New Yorker Antoni Scarano visited Romania in 2019, the trip marked his first return to his country of birth since the 1990s. As a newborn, Scarano, now 34, was among tens of thousands of Romanian children adopted by US families following the fall of the Soviet Union in

Steve Salter, CNN (CNN) — Over the next few days, something unusual will be happening across Spanish soccer. Nearly 40 men’s professional clubs in La Liga’s top two divisions will take to the field wearing retro-looking uniforms inspired by their respective histories. The kits were first unveiled at Madrid Fashion Week and are part of

By Leah Dolan, CNN (CNN) — This spring, it’s all about tradwife with a twist. For a recording of the “Mark and Kelly Show” in New York on Wednesday, Elle Fanning wore a girlish iridescent tutu and a buttery yellow polo shirt. From the waist down, she was dressed in her shimmering Sunday best. From

By Maggie Hiufu Wong, CNN Every Friday night of his childhood, Kurt Evans and his mother would order cartons of Chinese takeout, the cardboard boxes filled to the brim with classics like shrimp lo mein, egg foo young, General Tso’s chicken and beef and broccoli. After each meal the Philadelphia native, now in his late

By Terry Ward Hollywood, Florida (CNN) — On a sunny and warm late-February day at Richard’s Motel in Hollywood, Florida, guests mostly from Quebec and Ontario dipped into the swimming pool and gathered for morning coffee and conversation in a courtyard the hotel’s Quebecois owner calls the Parc de l’Amitié, or Friendship Park. The motel’s

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN (CNN) — Experiencing the Eiffel Tower can be a crowded affair – about 7 million people visit each year – but now you can enjoy a part of this majestic French monument in your own home. A piece of the Parisian landmark’s original staircase is going up for auction in the

By Edward Russell, CNN (CNN) — Step aboard a Boeing 767 operated by United Airlines and you’ll encounter the carrier’s very latest cabin comfort experiences — a smart foyer with gray walls and the rich blue United globe logo, rows of Polaris business-class suites, a dark purple premium economy section and blue economy seats equipped

By Silvia Marchetti, CNN (CNN) — During a storm in a quiet village in southern France, artist MB Boissonnault couldn’t stop herself crying as years of stress from living in Los Angeles finally began to surface. As the rain fell, she says she saw a ball of light moving toward her. “It was not a

By Maureen O’Hare, CNN (CNN) — In travel news this week: India’s enormous new airport, countries’ shifting citizenship rules and, as gas and jet fuel prices skyrocket, airline prices are on the rise. Paths to citizenship While some countries are reducing pathways to citizenship, others are opening up. President Donald Trump’s push to end automatic

By Vivian Song Paris (CNN) — One of the hottest restaurants in Paris right now does not boast a celebrity chef or a palatial dining room. In fact, there is no seating. Nor is the menu especially groundbreaking. But over the last few months, the French take-out fast food chain Tasty Crousty, which sells chicken

By Rachel Tashjian, CNN (CNN) — If Taylor Swift’s record-breaking engagement announcement is any indication, Polymarket bets, group chats and neighborhood wagers are undoubtedly sprouting up around the world to guess what she might wear for her upcoming wedding to Travis Kelce. But Kelce is no fashion slouch himself. A former GQ cover star, the

By Leah Dolan, CNN (CNN) — When we think about the quest to slow aging, perhaps no one is more monomaniacal about the pursuit than American tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, who reportedly spends around $2 million per year on anti-aging treatments and has become notorious online for his rigorous routine. His mission — to halt

By Salma Arafa (CNN) — As the rare sight of land appeared on the horizon, Egyptian traveler Omar Nok jumped from his narrow bunk and climbed up to the deck of the 49-foot sailboat he’d been traveling on. After weeks of being surrounded by nothing but the ocean, the sight of the Caribbean island of

By Rachel Tashjian, CNN (CNN) — When Glenn Martens became the creative director of Paris-based fashion house Maison Margiela in January 2025, he expected never to show his face again. After all, the founder of the brand, Martin Margiela, has rarely been seen. Ever. Anonymity was key to the Belgian’s conception of making clothes: rather

By Leah Dolan, CNN (CNN) — Evan Fry was born in 2003, a point in human history when many people’s back pockets held a Nokia 1100 or the Sony Ericsson T610. Mobile phones had been displaying the time on their LCD screens for almost a decade by this point — and the anxiety of how

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN (CNN) — Karl Lagerfeld, who was known to have a portfolio of lavish homes, once said: “The most beautiful house is always the next one.” Your next house could be this graceful French mansion, previously owned by both the late German designer and by European royalty. The seven-bedroom property, situated less

By Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN (CNN) — Paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cezanne and Henri Matisse have been stolen from a museum in northern Italy, in a brazen heist that took just three minutes, according to authorities. Renoir’s 1917 oil painting “Les Poissons,” Cezanne’s 1890 watercolor “Tasse et plat de cerises” and Matisse’s 1922 piece

By Vivian Song (CNN) — When Donald Trump was first elected in 2016, New York State resident Ellen Robillard briefly looked into getting Canadian citizenship. Her mother, after all, was born in Nova Scotia. As a Democrat, Robillard was despondent at the election results, but she abandoned the idea after realizing that her young son

By Aishwarya S Iyer, CNN New Delhi (CNN) — One of India’s most ambitious aviation projects, touted to be among the largest in South Asia, has been inaugurated more than four years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially kicked off the project. “I am happy that I had the privilege of laying the foundation stone

By Julia Buckley, CNN (CNN) — When Kellen Matwick, his wife Jacqueline and their two children boarded a one-way flight to Italy in August 2024, they toasted their new life. Matwick, whose great-grandparents emigrated from central Italy to Pennsylvania, is part of the vast Italian diaspora. He’s also one of the millions who saw his

By Maureen O’Hare, CNN (CNN) — China’s robot restaurant, the challenges of African airspace, plus TIME’s pick of the best places to visit in 2026. Here’s what’s happening in Travel. TIME’s ‘greatest places’ A heap of shiny new parks, museums, cruises, hotels and attractions have made it into TIME magazine’s 100 “greatest places of 2026,”

By Rachel Tashjian, CNN (CNN) — Fashion has long danced alongside the medium of art, with designers taking inspiration from the work of history’s great artists. With its technical prowess and avant-garde ambitions, many would argue that fashion belongs on the same plane as painting or sculpture. A monumental new show at London’s Victoria and

By Oscar Holland, CNN (CNN) — Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. So goes the Victorian-era English rhyme that has long served as a sartorial checklist for bridal fortunes. With rumors swirling around her own nuptials to Tom Holland, and a promotional tour for her wedding-centered new movie “The Drama” underway, it’s three

By Jeanne Bonner, CNN (CNN) — Standing in a long line at the airport isn’t always the worst thing. For many travelers, it’s standing in a long line at the airport and watching while other passengers sail past. That’s because travelers enrolled in TSA PreCheck or a service called Clear can reduce the amount of

By Stephy Chung, Oscar Holland, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — At Art Basel Hong Kong, Asia’s biggest art fair, a mysterious AI agent silently observed passersby through two tracking cameras. Not even its creator knew quite what it was looking for. Every two or three minutes, it picked someone out from the crowd and turned

CNN By Stephy Chung, Oscar Holland, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — At Art Basel Hong Kong, Asia’s biggest art fair, a mysterious AI agent silently observed passersby through two tracking cameras. Not even its creator knew quite what it was looking for. Every two or three minutes, it picked someone out from the crowd and

By Tamara Hardingham-Gill, CNN (CNN) — When chef René Redzepi issued an apology to staff for past behavior and announced he was stepping away from Noma, one of the highest-rated restaurants in the world, the news made big headlines — but was anyone really surprised? Yes, Redzepi had one of the biggest fine-dining reputations to

By Issy Ronald, CNN (CNN) — The image of an Iberian lynx playing with its prey has won the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award for 2026. Standing on its hind legs with one paw flung out, the lynx seems both playful and predatory, batting around an unfortunate rodent as a precursor

By Will Noble, CNN (CNN) — Britain is far from the wettest place on Earth, but its reputation as a gray landscape populated by perma-sodden umbrella-clutchers is so longstanding, it’s seeped into the national identity. “It’s raining cats and dogs” was a phrase muttered by Brits as far back as the 17th century, when torrential

By Rebecca Cope, CNN (CNN) — It has become a popular internet pastime for people to speculate about what work a female celebrity has had done. Wrinkle-free, taut and glowing visages are analyzed by experts and non-experts alike, often resulting in a diagnosis that includes a facelift, blepharoplasty, fillers, or Botox. Yet in recent months,

Oscar Holland, CNN Singapore (CNN) — At Singapore’s secretive Le Freeport, a fortified luxury storage facility often dubbed “Asia’s Fort Knox,” security is arguably tighter than at the international airport it connects to. Art, jewels and gold bars can enter the windowless building directly — and discreetly — from the runway at neighboring Changi, but

By Francesca Street, CNN (CNN) — Amelie Malmfält opened the message at work. When she saw Kris Brock’s name, her face broke out into a huge smile. She couldn’t believe it. It was a simple note — he’d bumped into her parents at the airport, he said. He was wondering how she was doing. It’d

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN (CNN) — The biggest mystery in the art world has apparently been solved: Banksy has been unmasked as a bespectacled middle-aged man from Bristol, England called Robin Gunningham. His name was revealed in a sprawling investigation by Reuters, though many say it has been an open secret for years, having been

By Lisa Courbebaisse and Elina Baudier Kim, CNN Paris (CNN) — Anyone visiting Paris just over a decade ago would doubtless have been charmed by the city’s timeless attractions — brasseries serving delicious food, museums crammed with famous works of art, boulevards of chic stores — all overlooked by the sparkling lights of the Eiffel

By Maureen O’Hare, CNN (CNN) — The world’s happiest countries for 2026, what travelers can expect in terms of rising air fares, plus United Airlines cracks down on noisy passengers. Here’s what’s happening in Travel. Noise annoys Here’s a teensy bit of positive news in what’s been a dark and difficult month: United Airlines has