Author: James Martin

(CNN) — American graduate student Dan Giedeman spent much of his first trip to Paris inside a conference room.It was September 1998 and Dan, then 27, was studying for a doctorate in economics at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. When his professor invited him to attend a meeting in the French capital, Dan jumped at the opportunity.”I grew up in the middle of the United States, the Midwest. So I’d never had a chance to go to Europe, or really anywhere outside the country,” Dan tells CNN Travel today. “I was thrilled to go.”On his last day in Paris,…

As Vladimir Putin launched his military assault on Ukraine, the country’s media censor issued a series of stark warnings. Any outlet that cited sources other than the Kremlin or its armed forces could be banned, even for using the words “attack, invasion, or declaration of war” to describe it.“We stress that it is Russian official information sources who have accurate and up-to-date information,” the censor Roskomnadzor said.Such fierce enforcement of the official narrative for the “special military operation” that Russia’s military began in Ukraine on Thursday is part of a huge propaganda barrage accompanying the invasion.“It’s like a movie. The…

The US has for years used the power of the dollar to cut adversaries off from global finance. Now, it is using the prevalence of American technology to cut Russia off from global chip supplies. Far-reaching export controls announced by Washington are intended to isolate Russia from the world’s tech economy and stymie its military capabilities, while allowing ordinary citizens in the country to still buy mobile phones, dishwashers and laptops.The measure is part of a wave of US and western sanctions in retaliation for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that have also targeted financial institutions, leading companies and the wealthy oligarchs…

(CNN) — Imagine a 5.5 kilometer garden path (3.51 miles), about twice the length of New York’s High Line, sprawling up the twisted façades of two towers, one of which rises more than 300 meters into the sky.That’s what will greet visitors to STH BNK by Beulah — a new dual-tower “greenscraper” complex planned for Melbourne that’s set to include the tallest building in Australia when complete in 2028. Better yet, travelers will be able to spend the night in it when visiting the country’s second most populated city.Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts announced this week that Four Seasons Melbourne…

On a recent Saturday morning, some 1,000 people crammed into Paper Tiger, a live music venue in The Strip, a trendy neighbourhood in San Antonio, Texas, full of bars, clubs and food trucks selling everything from mini tacos to lavender oat milk lattes.But the crowd of mostly twenty and thirtysomethings was not there for a gig. Hundreds had queued for hours to attend a political rally in support of two young Democratic congressional candidates — 28-year-old Jessica Cisneros and 32-year-old Greg Casar — and to hear the headliner who has endorsed them: firebrand progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “We can send…

(CNN) — In a major new archaeological discovery, a Neolithic complex of 9,000-year-old stone carvings has been uncovered in Jordan’s southeastern desert. The find was recorded by a team of Jordanian and French archaeologists and announced on Tuesday at a press conference held by the Jordanian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. The site is believed to be a unique ritualistic installation dedicated to the hunting of gazelles, and features gigantic stone traps known as “desert kites,” which the researchers say are the world’s oldest large-scale human-built sculptures. The anthromorphic carvings are a rare insight into Neolithic spiritual expression. Jordanian Antiquities…

With 19 high profile defendants and huge public interest, the only place in Mozambique deemed big enough for its blockbuster corruption trial was a maximum-security prison on the outskirts of Maputo. Over the past several weeks, ordinary Mozambicans have been glued to the television for the so-called “trial of the century”, an attempt to hold the country’s elite to account for more than $2bn of fraudulent debt that ultimately bankrupted the resource-rich country.Viewers have been rewarded with drama galore. There was an attempt to cut an electricity transformer at the prison and what many saw as a suspiciously well-timed power…

The chief executive of Japan’s biggest e-commerce platform said he will personally donate ¥1bn ($8.6mn) to Ukraine, in a rare move among Japanese business leaders to help the eastern European country defend itself. Hiroshi Mikitani, the CEO of Rakuten, posted a copy of his letter to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on his Twitter early on Sunday, calling the Russian invasion “a challenge to democracy”. “When I saw your courageous resistance against this unprovoked attack on behalf of Ukraine people, I thought about what I could do for Ukraine in Japan and decided to donate 1bn Japanese Yen ($8.6mn) to the…

The US and western allies will place sanctions on the Russian central bank and remove some of the country’s lenders from the Swift global payments system, in their harshest response yet to the invasion of Ukraine.In a joint statement, the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the European Commission said they would prevent the Russian central bank from using its internal reserves to undermine broader sanctions.“[Vladimir] Putin’s government is getting kicked off the international financial system,” said a senior US official, who added that the measures would result in the Russian currency going “into freefall”.The leaders said they would…

(CNN) — For Filipinos, breakfast is more than just the morning meal. It is deeply woven into the fabric of Filipino culture and tradition. It’s the start of a day full of good food, from lunch, followed by merienda (snack) and dinner. Filipino cuisine in general draws influences from other cultures — namely Mexican and Chinese — as a result of trade, and as a result of occupation and colonization such as American and Spanish cultures. After foods like canned meats, breads and pastries, chocolate, spices, sausages and more came to the islands, Filipinos put their own spin on these…