The State Department, which issues and renews passports for American citizens, has faced a number of challenges since the start of the pandemic. Staffing shortages caused extensive delays in the application process, including a scarcity of in-person appointments, while a surge of Americans hoping to travel led to a record number of applications and renewal…
One of the most important cultural events in Madrid in recent years was the public opening, just before the pandemic, of a collection that had been sitting behind the closed doors of a private palace for about 200 years. The Palacio de Liria, the grand 18th-century home of the Alba family — among Spain’s (and…
The llanos region spans more than 200,000 square miles through Colombia and Venezuela. Hot winds blow over its grassy hills, and scattered forests of Mauritius palms shelter hidden streams and lagoons. For centuries this landscape, shaped by ancient rivers, has been shared by ranchers and cattle, which learned to coexist with jaguars, panthers, anacondas, electric…
For visitors to New Zealand, the chance to see a haka, the ceremonial Maori dance, has long been as much a part of the country’s allure as its glaciers, geysers and glowworm caves. But increasingly, instead of merely catching a cultural performance en route to New Zealand’s Fiordland, travelers are lingering longer and going deeper,…
Winslow Dumaine was heading to a store on Chicago’s North Side when he saw it: a hole in the sidewalk on Roscoe Street with an uncanny resemblance to a rodent. Mr. Dumaine, who is an artist and comedian, said the hole represented two themes often present in his work: morbidity and whimsy. “Had to make…
The Federal Aviation Administration said on Friday that it was expanding its scrutiny of Boeing, increasing oversight of the company with an audit of production of the 737 Max 9, a week after a panel in the body of one of those planes was blown out during flight. The audit will assess whether Boeing and…
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. Last February, I was scrolling through Instagram when a peculiar ad appeared on my feed. The ad boasted of a three-year cruise called Life at Sea — said to be the longest cruise ever, with…
A few years ago, when the New York gallerist Jack Shainman toured the 20,000-square-foot Beaux-Arts space that he’ll open this week as the Hall, his new TriBeCa gallery, he told his staff to play it cool around the real estate agent — and then, once inside the long-neglected lower floors of the Clock Tower Building…
Federal regulators on Tuesday said Boeing was revising its instructions for how airlines should inspect its 737 Max 9, delaying the manufacturer’s effort to get the jet back in the air after a panel in one of the planes blew out during a flight late last week. The Federal Aviation Administration said the company would…
After a portion of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliner’s fuselage blew out in midair on Friday and caused an emergency landing in Portland, Ore., the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the temporary grounding of some Max 9 planes until they are thoroughly inspected. Hundreds of flights operated by Alaska Airlines and United Airlines,…