Life

By Christian Edwards, CNN A Spanish tradition of people wearing blackface to represent one of the Three Wise Men — or Three Kings — in parades across the country has sparked calls to end the controversial practice. The events are held on January 6 to celebrate the arrival of the wise men (“reyes magos”) into

Oscar Holland, CNN | Josh Pennington, CNN The ringleader of a group that allegedly tried to steal a Banksy mural from a wall in Ukraine could face up to 12 years in prison, the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a statement Monday. The suspect, who has not been named, was served a “notice

Maija Ehlinger, CNN and Oscar Holland, CNN Spanish police have recovered hundreds of archaeological artifacts, including marine fossils, Bronze Age ceramics and 18th-century weapons, from two houses in the southeastern province of Alicante. More than 200 human bone fragments, some of which are between 4,000 and 5,000 years old, were also seized from the homes,

By Pete Muntean, CNN Two far-apart states are seeing fresh air travel problems on Monday. Air traffic control issues triggered hours-long flight delays to Florida airports, the Federal Aviation Administration told CNN. And the main airport in Denver, Colorado, is seeing substantial cancellations and delays because of a fresh round of winter weather. Late Monday

By Zoe Sottile, CNN A traveler at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International airport got into a sticky situation — literally. A Rhode Island man was arrested last week after TSA agents discovered parts of a disassembled semi-automatic handgun disguised within two jars of peanut butter in his luggage, according to a news release

CNN Travel staff New year equals new outlook. Apply this formula liberally to travel planning in 2023. After nearly three years of travel disruptions and complications, many countries have dropped most of their pandemic restrictions. People are traveling internationally in large numbers, and there’s plenty of pent-up demand to spread around the world. International tourism

By Joel Porter and Stacey Lastoe, CNN It’s the time of year for merriment and all that it might entail. But indulgences of alcohol often lead to less-than-pleasant mornings after. Since there’s no magic hangover pill (not yet, anyway), what can you do when you overdo it? The answer, for many, lies in carbohydrates. A

By Alaa Elassar, CNN Major cities including New York and Chicago are preparing for New Year’s Eve celebrations, and part of the festivity preparations will include strengthened security measures. In New York City, crowds are expected to return to full capacity for New Year’s Eve for the first time since the start of the Covid-19

Silvia Marchetti, CNN With lavish Baroque villas, exotic gardens, dramatic landscapes, ancient art and a seductive vibe, Sicily seems to be the perfect location for season two of dark comedy series “The White Lotus.” The award-winning show charts the tangled, erotic and sometimes dangerous adventures of super-rich vacationers staying at the beautiful clifftop San Domenico

By Maureen O’Hare, CNN This was a bad, bad week for holiday travelers in the United States. First there was the raging storm that caught many people in perilous situations far from home: Here are some of their stories. Then Southwest went into an almighty days-long meltdown that left hundreds of thousands of passengers delayed

Stephy Chung and Kristie Lu Stout Advanced age and the pandemic have done little to deter Japan’s Yayoi Kusama. At 93, the world’s best-selling living female artist is still painting daily at the psychiatric hospital she voluntarily checked into and has lived in since the 1970s. Some of her latest creations feature alongside early drawings

Scottie Andrew, CNN With some help from the Sex Pistols, British youths hungry for anarchy, and influences including Teddy Boy subculture and fetishists, Vivienne Westwood helped develop punk as a style, an ethos and a movement. The British designer, who died this week at 81, became one of the UK’s most revered style icons. But

By Maureen O’Hare, CNN In 2022, the world started traveling again — and with that came the return of all the usual misbehavior and antics abroad. But with nerves perhaps frayed by a record year for airline cancellations, delays, lost luggage and inflated prices, misconduct was a particularly strong theme. Here are the standout moments

By Gregory Wallace, CNN Ask Southwest Airlines employees about their company’s technology, and one word keeps coming up: “antiquated.” While Southwest grew from a scrappy, Texas-based discount airline operating three planes into one of the nation’s largest — union officials representing Southwest workers say the company did not keep pace with technology changes. And they

By Gregory Wallace and Forrest Brown, CNN The boss of Southwest Airlines has vowed he will “make good” to passengers hit by his company’s disastrous holiday meltdown as the carrier was delivering on its promise to resume better service on Friday. “This has impacted so many people — so many customers — over the holidays,”

Nick Glass, CNN British fashion designer and style icon Vivienne Westwood has died aged 81. She passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family, at her home in London on Thursday, according to an official statement from her eponymous company. To the media, she was “the high priestess of punk” and the “Queen of Extreme.” To

Forrest Brown, CNN These destinations around the world have a well-deserved reputation for traditionally throwing a great New Year’s Eve fireworks show and shindig, and they’re bouncing back from the subdued celebrations of the past two years during the Covid-19 pandemic. Be sure to plan for prime parties and the best viewing areas for fireworks.

By Jessie Yeung, CNN A surging Covid outbreak in China. Countries imposing travel restrictions on Chinese travelers, wary of the virus being imported. Scientists warning against fearmongering and xenophobia. But this isn’t early 2020. The familiar scene is playing out now as China battles its biggest-ever outbreak, after abandoning its stringent zero-Covid approach and partially

By Gregory Wallace, Forrest Brown, Barry Neild and Karla Cripps, CNN Southwest Airlines says it’s set up to resume normal schedules on Friday after a tumultuous eight days that left hundreds of thousands of passengers delayed or stranded and prompted its executives to make apologies to the riding public and government officials. In a statement

By Forrest Brown, Gregory Wallace and Karla Cripps, CNN As beleaguered Southwest Airlines continues to sort out stranded passengers, uncollected baggage and out-of-position airplanes, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has taken the airline to task. He’s pulling no punches, referring to the situation as a complete “meltdown” of the system. Meanwhile, the airline’s decision to

By Laura Ly and Amanda Jackson, CNN Many winter holiday travelers in the United States have had a real rough go of it — and they have some real humdinger stories to tell. Just as millions piled into cars and flooded into airports with stuffed bags in tow over the weekend, a paralyzing winter storm

By Jessie Yeung, Selina Wang and Cheng Cheng, CNN China’s partial reopening has been met with an outpouring of joy and relief from citizens — both the hundreds of millions isolated inside the country for the past three years and those overseas separated from their loved ones. Authorities announced Monday that starting January 8, China

By Forrest Brown, Karla Cripps and Barry Neild, CNN Southwest Airline’s operational meltdown has put the Dallas-headquartered company under serious scrutiny — not only from stranded passengers and media reports but from US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as well. He spoke directly to Southwest CEO Bob Jordan on Tuesday about the thousands of flights that

Lisa Morrow, CNN With sloping banks studded with elegant private mansions, palace parks and centuries-old groves, the Bosphorus is the embodiment of Istanbul. This 19-mile (30-kilometer) strait runs from the Black Sea in the north to the Sea of Marmara in the south. The urban sprawl covers Europe in the west and Asia to the

By Forrest Brown, CNN Last week’s winter weather travel mess is lingering like a vicious hangover into this week — and the headaches have been migraine-proportioned for Southwest Airlines, its CEO Bob Jordan, airline employees and most of all its frustrated passengers on Monday. A total of 4,002 flights within, into or out of the

By Zoe Sottile, CNN A dog abandoned at the San Francisco airport has found a forever home with a United Airlines captain, according to the San Francisco SPCA. A pup named Polaris had arrived to San Francisco with a traveler from an international destination. But the dog was abandoned at the airport when “the customer

By Forrest Brown, CNN With much of the United States still reeling from a nearly weeklong winter storm, flight cancellations and delays and other transportation challenges continued to pile up on Christmas Day. At least 3,181 flights within, into or out of the United States were canceled Sunday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. And

Kate Springer, CNN “The jungle is our playground, and the sea is our wonderland.” That’s how Sook Yee Lai remembers her childhood on Christmas Island, an overseas territory of Australia that’s about a 3.5-hour flight northwest of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. “We do lots of free diving, snorkeling, diving, surfing, caving and walking