When the owner of a crumbling, uninhabitable house in a flood zone is asking for a cool $1.8 million, you know the market is hot. Amid signs that the national housing market is cooling, property prices in tech-heavy Silicon Valley show few signs of sanity.
For young people, the lure of living in Paris goes well beyond its legendary cafes and cultural offerings. Combining France’s minimum wage—generous by global standards—with prices for items that serve as something of a proxy for the lifestyle of urban youth, Paris ranked No. 1 in a new index measuring the affordability of 25 of the world’s cities from the perspective of young adults.
Nick Gray never gave much thought to museums until he was shown around New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art on a date. His companion apparently was an excellent tour guide.
An estimated 330 million urban households around the world lack proper housing or are financially stretched by housing costs. By 2025, the number is expected to overtake a third of the world’s urban population, according to findings in a McKinsey Global Institute report.
New York State Attorney General Eric Schneidermann is taking a shot at Airbnb. His report on the short-term rental service (pdf) released today, using four and a half years of Airbnb data, shows that 72% of its rentals in New York are in violation of zoning regulations or other laws.
If you’re a frequent traveler, you may be familiar with pre-flight anxiety. But not everyone experiences it for the same reasons. For men, the most pressing issue before a trip is whether the flight will depart on schedule; for women, it’s getting to the airport on time—that’s according to a new study from the Airline Passenger Experience Association.
As the price of airfares, hotel rooms, rental cars, and food and drink go up, the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) predicts that business travel costs in the US will rise 2.9% this year and by 3.5% in 2015. And as usual, companies will be searching for new ways to tighten their travel budgets. One of the newest places they’ll be looking: Airbnb.
In case you haven’t noticed first-hand, American flight attendants are fuming over the fact that they no longer control your in-flight cell phone use. So they’re suing the US Federal Aviation Administration over its relaxing of rules last year about the use of phones, tablets, and other electronics during takeoff and landing.
US airline JetBlue, which has turned its selection of on-board snacks (and its homey presentation of them) into a competitive advantage, has formed a partnership with AccelFoods, an eclectic, New York-based incubator of sorts that helps startup packaged food companies gain some traction.
For global travelers, a passport is a golden ticket. And starting in 2016, US passports will be getting an overhaul and catching up with the rest of the world’s protocol. It’s a lot to take on: US passport holders have increased by more than ten-fold over the past two decades. If your passport is due for a renewal, or you’re finally giving into your travel bug, here are some of the changes coming your way.
The Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City is iconic for its storied history, famous guests, and secret underground train platform. But in simpler terms, it’s a big building with a blue-chip address in a coveted real estate market.
It will be eight months until actual play begins, but already the Women’s World Cup in Canada next June has become a battle—ostensibly between natural grass and artificial turf, but really about sexism.
It’s hard to stay motivated on a long walk or run when the finish line (or your couch) looks so far away. Try focusing your eyes on a specific destination. New research shows that this “attentional narrowing” will not only make your target feel closer—it actually can help you get there faster.
The differences in this year’s Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that officially began this week, are many: There’s the escalated efforts to contain Ebola and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus outbreaks, and then there are the selfies.
Recent attention to the dearth of women in US clinical trials has revealed a startling problem in the medical world: Women make up less than a quarter (paywall) of participants in research trials related to heart disease in the US. As a result, most of what we know about heart disease is about men. Adding to ongoing efforts by the American Heart Association, the US National Institutes of Health has set aside $10 million in grants to tackle the problem with more women-specific research and public awareness.
Dubai has come a long way. Once a nearly empty desert, it is now an urban metropolis with towering skyscrapers, islands shaped like palm trees, and a bustling expat population drawn to its luxurious beaches. And now the city is gearing up to host the 2020 World Expo, a global gathering expected to draw millions of visitors.
Social media—legitimately praised as democratic mobilizing tools in the Arab world—now are being used for major civil rights violations in Egypt. Authorities have taken to scouring the internet and social media in their crackdown on the country’s LGBT community. Six men were sentenced to two years in prison for advertising their apartment on Facebook as a place for men to engage in sexual acts; they were allegedly charging around $200 a night. This follows another recent high-profile case, in which eight men were put on trial for appearing in a YouTube video purportedly showing Egypt’s “first gay marriage,” on a small boat on the Nile.
While it may not involve using your fingers, texting on Google Glass is just as distracting and dangerous as on your phone.
The annual Hajj—the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia—is known to be one of the world’s largest gatherings, drawing approximately three million Muslims globally into the journey to the Grand Mosque and Masjid al-Haram, which houses the Kaaba, the holiest site in Islam. The pilgrimage occurs from the 8th to the 12th day of the last month in the Islamic calendar; this year it’s likely to fall between October 2nd and 7th.
Between the People’s Climate March, which drew huge crowds in New York on Sept. 21, and the United Nations climate summit that kicked off two days later, a number of large US firms have been inspired to trot out initiatives this week related to their sustainability efforts.
Hailed as the largest climate demonstration in history, the People’s Climate March is estimated to have drawn as many as 400,000 demonstrators to the streets of Manhattan yesterday. While organizers initially expected around 100,000 attendees, the crowd count hovered at around 310,000 by 3pm (the demonstrators—many sporting clever signs and witty costumes—had lined up hours before the 11:30am start time) and eventually spilled over into streets outside the official route.
The benefits of a morning workout are well documented. You get your fitness routine out of the way before a tiring day at work or incessant errands take a toll on your body’s energy. (And cities like New York are better before everyone else gets up, anyway.) Running is one of the more popular ways of getting a quick workout in in the wee hours of the morning. You don’t have to make a trip to the gym; all you need is a pair of good shoes and a banging playlist. At least, that’s how it feels at first.
What to watch for today
We’re still weeks away from the shorter days, crisp breezes, and rusty foliage that herald autumn in much of the US. But one harbinger of autumn that has nothing to do with nature will be arriving in just days: Starbucks’ wildly popular pumpkin spice latte.
