Thailand floats plan to welcome back international tourists in October

Bangkok (CNN) — Hope is on the horizon for travelers wanting to spend their upcoming winter holidays in Thailand — provided they’re willing to spend several weeks in the kingdom and only stick to designated areas. During a public forum held late last week, Thailand’s Minister of Tourism Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said the country is aiming to allow foreign […]

A private island off the coast of Ireland just sold for $6 million. The buyer only saw it in a video tour

(CNN) — A private island off the coast of Ireland boasting three beaches, seven houses and natural wildlife has been sold for more than $6.3 million — with the anonymous buyer not even visiting the location in person before going through with the purchase.   Horse Island, a 157-acre spot of land to the southwest of […]

Google launches balloon-powered internet service in Kenya

Nairobi, Kenya (CNN)A fleet of balloons has begun providing internet service to remote areas of Kenya, Google’s Project Loon and Telkom Kenya announced. It’s the first balloon-powered internet to launch in Africa, and the first non-emergency commercial deployment in the world, the two companies said. According to a statement, the project will use a fleet […]

Black Friday as we know it is finally dead

For decades, the day after Thanksgiving has attracted massive crowds and hysteria outside of malls and stores nationwide.Thousands of shoppers gather sometimes as early as 5 pm Thanksgiving Day itself, jostling for themad dash into their favorite shops to grab Black Friday doorbuster deals on flatscreen TVs, diamond necklaces, holiday toys, winter coats and more. […]

Oz tech titans to build world’s tallest ‘hybrid timber’ tower in Sydney

SYDNEY: Global software giant Atlassian will build the world’s tallest “hybrid timber” building for its new headquarters in Sydney, the company said on Thursday (Jun 25). The 40-storey structure, coming in at 180 metres (590 ft), will be constructed with timber mass – layers of softwoods pressed together – and will feature a glass and steel […]

Why do so many Egyptian statues have broken noses?

The most common question that curator Edward Bleiberg fields from visitors to the Brooklyn Museum’s Egyptian art galleries is a straightforward but salient one: Why are the statues’ noses broken?   Bleiberg, who oversees the museum’s extensive holdings of Egyptian, Classical and ancient Near Eastern art, was surprised the first few times he heard this […]

World’s most expensive cities for expats in 2020 revealed

(CNN) — Spot the odd one out in this list of global cities: Hong Kong, Zurich, Singapore and… Ashgabat?The Turkmenistan capital might not spring to mind when listing deep-pocket destinations, but Ashgabat is now the world’s second most expensive city for overseas workers, according to Mercer’s newly released Cost of Living Survey.While it’s rubbing shoulders with the […]