Spain’s ‘Tomatina’ Battle Returns After Pandemic Hiatus

BUNOL, Spain (AP) — People from around the world pasted each other with tomatoes Wednesday as Spain’s famous “Tomatina” street tomato fight took place once again Wednesday following a two-year suspension because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Workers on trucks unloaded 130 tons of over-ripe tomatoes along the main street of the eastern town of Bunol for participants to throw, leaving the area drenched in red pulp.

Up to 20,000 people were to take part in the festival, paying 12 euros ($12) a ticket for the privilege. The town’s streets are hosed down and the revelers showered off within minutes of the hour-long noon battle ending.

The event, held on the last Wednesday of August, was inspired by a food fight between local children in 1945 in the town, located in a tomato-producing region.

Media attention in the 1980s turned it into a national and international event, drawing participants from every corner of the world.

Local officials said they expected fewer foreign visitors this year mainly because of continuing fears over COVID-19 in Asian countries.

Participants don swimming goggles to protect their eyes while their clothes, typically T-shirts and shorts, are left covered in pulp.

Besides being the first battle since before the pandemic started in 2020 in Spain, this year’s celebration had the added incentive of being the event’s 75th anniversary and 20 years since the festival was declared by Spain as an international tourism attraction.

Fourth-Generation Family Member Angelina Mondavi Joins The Winemaking Team As Consulting Winemaker Of Charles Krug Winery

Angelina is the only member of the fourth generation, or "G4," to pursue a winemaking degree and has extensive experience crafting highly-regarded wines. She holds a bachelor's degree from Villanova University, where she majored in chemistry with a minor in business, and a Master's in Oenology from the University of Adelaide.

"I am excited to be working alongside Stacy Clark and her team where we will continue to innovate while honoring and stewarding the winemaking traditions of my grandfather, Peter Mondavi, Sr., my father, Marc, and my uncle Peter Jr.," comments Angelina Mondavi. "Together, Stacy and I are making wines that can age for years to come but are also approachable and can be enjoyed immediately."

As consulting winemaker at Charles Krug Winery, Mondavi will work diligently in the vineyards and winery to harness the quality from grape to bottle. Born and raised playing in her family's 857 acres of prime Napa Valley land, she is intimately aware of the grape characters in each location from St. Helena to Howell Mountain to Yountville. Together, she and Clark will focus on block selections, barrel regimes, and tannin management to create powerful, lush, high-quality estate Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons.

"I am proud to see a fourth-generation member step into a winemaking role as succession planning is important for continuing our family business," says co-proprietor Peter Mondavi Jr. "Angelina will be a critical part of our winemaking team at Charles Krug Winery and important to the future of our family legacy."

"For the past nine decades, we've had a family member direct winemaking at Charles Krug. It's great to see the fourth generation integrate and take a leadership position of the future winemaking for the family. I'm so proud of the wines Angelina makes and am thrilled she is joining the winemaking team as a consulting winemaker of Charles Krug Winery," says co-proprietor Marc Mondavi.

About Charles Krug:

In 1943, Italian immigrants Cesare and Rosa Mondavi purchased the historic Charles Krug property, the oldest winery in the Napa Valley and the longest-running tasting room in California. The brand was built on a foundation of family values, hard work, and a European winemaking tradition; it remains a family-owned winery today, producing estate-driven, top-of-the-line Napa Valley wines. The winery is under the direction of Peter Mondavi Jr. and his brother, Marc Mondavi, who steward the family business passed to them by their father, legendary Napa Valley wine icon Peter Mondavi Sr. The family is now proudly welcoming members of the fourth generation to the business, and the fifth generation has arrived. The family continues the legacy that started almost 80 years ago and setting a foundation for generations to come. For additional information, please visit https://www.charleskrug.com/.

Made In America Festival 2022: What You Need To Know

Jay-Z's curated music festival is taking place Labor Day Weekend on the Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.

The 2022 Made in America Music Festival curated by Jay-Z is all set for Labor Day weekend on the Ben Franklin Parkway in Philly.

And that means the city is preparing with road closures, parking restrictions, and more.

Made in America is a two-day music event held during Labor Day weekend, produced by Roc Nation and DPS on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Every year, the festival features Cause Village, a dedicated hub for social action celebrating over 30 local and national organizations including ACCT Philly, BEAM, Covenant House Philadelphia, HeadCount, Philadelphia Works, REFORM Alliance, and Share Food Program, just to name a few.

Below are details of the festival:

Festival Activities & Information

The 2022 Made in America artists will perform on multiple stages along Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Saturday, Sept. 3 and Sunday, Sept. 4.

Doors will open each day at noon, with performances scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.

Performances are expected to run until approximately midnight on Saturday and 11 p.m. on Sunday.

Go online here for tickets, lineup and general information about the Made in America Festival.

For performance details, festival updates, and the latest information, download the 2022 Made in America Festival app (available for iOS and Android).

Road Closures & Parking Restrictions

To accommodate venue construction and the two-day festival, gradual lane restrictions and road closures along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and in sections of the Fairmount and Logan Square neighborhoods will begin on Sunday.

The number and magnitude of street closings and parking restrictions will increase each day until the festival ends.

Specific phases for road closures are detailed below.

All roadways will reopen prior to morning rush hour on Tuesday, Sept. 6, with traffic patterns returning to normal.

Some low-impact parking and travel lane restrictions will remain in place until 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6.

Delays can be expected during the course of event construction and on festival days.

Motorists are advised to avoid the area by using alternate routes and allow for extra driving time in the areas near these festivities before and during Labor Day weekend.

Double-parking—which creates congestion, limits traffic flow, and is illegal—should also be avoided.

While the following closures are specified, there may be additional closures in the area surrounding the Parkway as needed.

Phase 1: 7 a.m. on Sunday to 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6:

CLOSED: Two lanes of Eakins Oval in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Phase 2: 7 a.m. on Monday to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6:

CLOSED: Spring Garden Street, between Pennsylvania Avenue and Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Phase 3: 7 a.m. on Tuesday to 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6:

Parking prohibited on 22nd Street between Benjamin Franklin Parkway and Pennsylvania Avenue (west side) and Park Towne Place from 22nd Street to 24th Street (north side).

Phase 4: 10 a.m. on Wednesday to 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6:

CLOSED: Inner lanes of Benjamin Franklin Parkway, between 20th Street and Eakins Oval. Cross traffic on numbered streets will be permitted and outer lanes of Benjamin Franklin Parkway will remain open on Wednesday, August 31. Phase 5: 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 1 to 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6:

CLOSED: Outer lanes on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, between 22nd and 23rd Streets (eastbound only). Cross traffic on numbered streets will be permitted on Thursday, Sept. 2.

Phase 6: 10 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 2 to 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6:

CLOSED: Outer lanes of Benjamin Franklin Parkway, between 20th Street and Eakins Oval CLOSED: Inner lanes of Benjamin Franklin Parkway, between 20th Street and Eakins Oval CLOSED: 23rd Street, between Pennsylvania Avenue and Benjamin Franklin Parkway CLOSED: 22nd Street, between Pennsylvania Avenue and Park Towne Place CLOSED: 21st Street, between Pennsylvania Avenue and Winter Street CLOSED: Kelly Drive outbound from Benjamin Franklin Parkway to Fairmount Avenue CLOSED: Martin Luther King Jr. Drive from Sweetbriar Drive to Eakins Oval

Starting at 10 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 2, due to the closure of the outer lanes on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, traffic headed inbound (to Center City) from Spring Garden Street Bridge or Martin Luther King Drive must exit Eakins Oval on the 24th Street ramp. Traffic headed inbound on Kelly Drive must exit Kelly Drive at Fairmount Avenue. Anne d’Harnoncourt Drive will remain open for employees and guests of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and will be accessible via 25th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.

Phase 7: 3 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 3 to 5 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 5:

The most extensive road closures and parking restrictions around the festival site will begin at 3 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 3, and remain in effect through the duration of the event.

Many of the road closures listed below will be lifted prior to 5 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 5 as roads are cleaned and serviced.

Road Closures:

The entire width of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, beginning at 20th Street extending west through Eakins Oval to 25th Street. Note: The rear of the Philadelphia Museum of Art will be accessible to museum guests via a special route (Fairmount Avenue, to Pennsylvania Avenue, to 25th Street/Anne d’Harnoncourt Drive). 20th Street, between Arch Street and Vine Street 21st Street, between Winter Street and Hamilton Street. 22nd Street, between Winter Street and Spring Garden Street. 23rd Street, between the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and Pennsylvania Avenue. Spring Garden Street Tunnel. Spring Garden Street Bridge. Note: The City will make every effort to keep this bridge open during Philadelphia Museum of Art operating hours, but it may be forced to close during periods of heavy pedestrian use. Kelly Drive, between Fairmount Avenue and Eakins Oval. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, between the Falls Bridge and Eakins Oval. I-676 westbound off-ramp at 22nd Street.

Note: I-676 eastbound off-ramp at 23rd Street will remain open. Short duration, intermittent closures of 2200-2400 Pennsylvania Avenue are expected at times on Saturday, Sept. 3 and Sunday, Sept. 4 for movement of equipment and resources.

Motorists are advised to utilize caution in the area and obey instructions from the Philadelphia Police Department.

Parking Restrictions:

Pennsylvania Avenue, between 22nd Street and Fairmount Avenue (south side of street). Winter Street, between 20th and 22nd Streets (both sides of street). 20th Street, between Vine Street and Callowhill Street (east side of street). 21st Street, between Benjamin Franklin Parkway and Race Street (both sides of street). 22nd Street, between Winter Street and Spring Garden Street (both sides of street). Park Towne Place, between 22nd Street and 24th Street (both sides of street). Spring Garden Street, between 22nd Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Race Street, between 19th Street and 20th Street.

Additional road closures and parking restrictions may be necessary in the vicinity of the event venue as dictated by conditions.

Residents and visitors should always obey posted signs and instructions from the Philadelphia Police Department.

Public Transportation & Paid Parking Information

SEPTA Customer Service can be reached at 215-580-7800 and directly on Twitter @septa_social. For more information on SEPTA and NJ Transit routes and schedules during Labor Day weekend, visit septa.org or call 215-580-7800, and njtransit.com or call 973-275-5555. All road closures will be lifted prior to morning rush hour on Tuesday, Sept. 6.

Available transportation options include:

Broad Street and Market Frankford Lines: Local train service will operate on a normal weekend schedule throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday. Race-Vine and City Hall Stations on the Broad Street Line and 15th Street Station on the Market Frankford Line provide easy walking access to the festival gates on Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Broad Street and Market Frankford Owl Buses (BSO and MFO) will offer overnight service as usual.

Regional Rail: Late-night train service will be available on SEPTA’s Regional Rail Lines on Saturday and Sunday nights departing from Jefferson, Suburban and 30th Street Stations. Special schedules will be posted in stations and are also available online at septa.org/events. Parking is free at all SEPTA-owned Regional Rail lots on weekends. Parking lot location information is available online at septa.org/parking.

Trolley: Trolley Routes 10, 11, 13, 15, 34 and 36 offer convenient service to and from the concert, with 19th and 22nd Street Stations providing easy walking access to Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Trolley Route 15 connects with Broad Street and Market Frankford Line service at Girard Avenue.

Bus: Due to festival-related street closures, the following SEPTA Routes will be detoured from their normal routes through the Benjamin Franklin Parkway area: SEPTA Route 43 beginning at 7 a.m. on Sunday through 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6. SEPTA Route 38 beginning at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 1 through 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6. SEPTA Routes 7, 32, 48 and 49 beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 2 through 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6. Specific route changes are available on the System Status Page at septa.org.

PHLASH: PHLASH transportation is an inexpensive way to visit key attractions in Center City and the Parkway vicinity, with stops at 22 locations including many in Center City. Find PHLASH on the go, with live updates at RidePhillyPHLASH.com and visit phillyphlash.com for a schedule and route details.

Rideshare: Taxi, Uber and Lyft designated drop off and pick up locations are along the 2100 block of Spring Garden Street.

Indego Bike Share: Attendees using Indego to get to the festival should check the mobile app to confirm dock and bike availability in real time. Users can also check bike and station status at rideindego.com or by following @rideindego on Twitter. The Art Museum Indego station will be temporarily relocated to accommodate the stage.

If driving, commercial off-street parking lots and garages are conveniently located on or near the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Attendees can contact individual facilities in advance for rates and availability or visit the Philadelphia Parking Authority’s website at philapark.org for a list of parking options. The Made in America Festival is not affiliated with these parking facilities.

Cultural Institutions

Most of the cultural institutions on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway will maintain normal hours of operation and, in some cases, even extend schedules during the festival and throughout Labor Day weekend.

Philadelphia Museum of Art: During the Made in America Festival, the west and north entrances of the Philadelphia Museum of Art will remain open, and visitors may obtain access via pathways north and south of this entrance. Anne d’Harnoncourt Drive will be open at 25th Street, with access to the museum’s parking garage for museum visitors throughout the weekend. Anne d’Harnoncourt Drive will be accessible for visitor drop off, Art Museum staff, and event staff. All vehicles entering Anne d’Harnoncourt Drive are subject to search at established PPD checkpoints. The Rocky Statue will not be accessible Friday evening after 5:00 p.m. through the end of the day on Sunday. For more information, please visit the museum’s website at philamuseum.org.

Barnes Foundation: The Barnes Foundation will be open throughout Labor Day Weekend, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. The parking lot is also open to the public and is accessible via Pennsylvania Avenue between 20th and 21st Streets. First Friday! is on Friday, Sept. 2, 6 – 9 p.m., and PECO Free First Sunday Family Day is on Sunday, Sept. 4, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tickets and information are available on the Barnes website at barnesfoundation.org.

The Franklin Institute: The Franklin Institute will be open on Saturday, Sept. 4 and Sunday, Sept. 5. The parking garage located at 21st and Winter Streets will be accessible. For more information, please visit the website at fi.edu.

The Rodin Museum: The Rodin Museum will be closed on Friday, Sept. 2 and reopen under normal operating hours on Friday, Sept. 9.

Visit parkwaymuseumsdistrict.org or the institutions’ individual websites for more information on exhibit hours, ticketing, parking, accessibility and accommodations.

Venue Details & Public Safety Information

The Made in America venue features multiple entrances and exits for ticket-holders during the two-day festival.

Entrances are located at 21st Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Re-entry to the venue will not be permitted on either day.

There is an ADA-accessible entrance at the main gates on Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 21st Street.

Festival attendees requiring ADA-accessible accommodations for guest screening and arriving via vehicle can be dropped off at 24th Street and Park Towne Place.

The perimeter of the festival will be firmly secured and protected for public safety. The enclosed event boundaries are:

21st Street from Pennsylvania Avenue to Park Towne Place. Pennsylvania Avenue from 21st Street to 25th Street. The south side of Eakins Oval from Martin Luther King Drive to 24th Street. Park Towne Place from 24th Street to 22nd Street. The south side of Benjamin Franklin Parkway from 22nd Street to 21st Street.

Throughout the event, the City will provide enhanced law-enforcement support and emergency medical services on the Parkway and in the surrounding vicinity.

The City and Made in America are coordinating with local, state and federal public safety authorities to utilize a network of prevention and response services.

Additionally, Made in America has partnered with iDeko to compile and address community-related questions and/or concerns.

A hotline has been made available for the duration of the event, inclusive of the site build. The hotline number is 917-732-7501.

The hotline will be staffed 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

During off hours, any messages received will be collected, reviewed and processed during business hours.

Clear Bag Policy

Access to the venue is limited strictly to ticket-holders, who will be subject to search before being permitted inside the venue to ensure the enjoyment and safety of everyone at the festival.

Ticket holders should be prepared for additional searches inside the venue at the discretion of festival security staff.

Spectators must adhere to the clear bag policy put forth by festival organizers.

The only bags that will be permitted must be clear plastic, vinyl or PVC and can not exceed 12 inches by 6 inches by 12 inches.

All bags are subject to search.

Those planning to attend festival activities should plan ahead regarding driving, public transit, parking, supervision of children and wearing comfortable attire.

Bags and other items should never be left unattended. In an emergency, or to report a suspicious person, activity or item (a backpack, a package, a container), attendees can notify a police officer immediately or call 9-1-1.

Items allowed inside the venue include:

Any transparent plastic, vinyl or PVC bag no larger than 12 inches by 6 inches by 12.Purses, bags or clutches no larger than 4.5 inches by 6.5 inches, subject to search and re-search (all searched bags will be tagged following search)

Factory-sealed plastic water bottles, one per person up to 1 liter

Empty plastic or aluminum water containers, one per person up to 1 liter for re-use at water refill stations (drinking water will be available for purchase and there will be water stations for refilling bottles)

Empty hydration packs (backpacks, waist bands or other hydration items and inserts)

Blankets and towels

Umbrellas (small hand-held only)

Non-professional cameras, flip-cams, camera phones

Sunscreen, sunglasses, government issued I.D., cash, debit/credit cards, and other personal items

Items NOT allowed inside the venue include but are not limited to:

Weapons and contraband of any kind (regardless of permitting, e.g. Right-to-Carry permits will not be honored)

Drones

Fireworks or explosives

Illegal or illicit substances of any kind

Food and non-water beverages, including alcohol, taken from outside of the venue

Pets (except trained service animals)

Flyers, handbills, posters, stickers (no solicitation or unauthorized vending allowed)

Chairs

Glass containers

Skateboards, motorized vehicles or scooters (excluding motorized wheelchairs or similar equipment for those with mobility issues)

Coolers (unless for medical reasons)

Professional recording devices or cameras (no detachable lenses or tripods meant for commercial use)

Fluorescent plastic lights (glow sticks)

Laser pointers

Spray paint

Balls, balloons and frisbees

Musical instruments

Items that would obstruct others’ view of the stages (kites, flag poles, large signs, etc.)

Any item deemed by security as a risk to public safety

Made in America is a "No Drone Zone." Drone use is prohibited, and the use of drones over groups of people or over stadiums is a violation of FAA regulations.

The Made in America Festival is an all-ages event. However, to enter the festival beer garden areas and to purchase alcohol, individuals must be 21+ and have valid photo I.D. Underage drinkers will be detained.

Smoking is not permitted on any Philadelphia Parks & Recreation property including, but limited to, buildings, playgrounds, ice or skating rinks, fields or courts, pools, picnic areas, walking areas and parking lots.

Missing or lost persons can be brought to the information tents located next to the main merchandise booth on 2100 Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Found items can be taken to various information tents placed throughout the venue, with the primary lost and found located at the information tents next to the main merchandise booth on 2100 Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Alpha-numeric “location markers” will be posted to clearly and easily identify a location or section (by letter and number, example: CD-1) to facilitate communication in the event of an emergency.

EMS tents are located near the main entrance between 21st and 22nd Streets, at the north side of 23rd Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and near the Rocky Statue to the right of the main stage.

Emergency Weather Alerts & Heat-Related Precautions Information

Made in America is a rain or shine event.

Attendees should sign up to receive free weather and emergency alerts by texting READYPHILA to 888-777, and in the case of severe weather, should listen for announcements broadcast across the festival footprint.

In the event of high temperatures, attendees should be aware of the risk of heat-related health issues.

EMS personnel will be on duty all day at accessible first aid stations and will be on patrol to monitor activities.

Many heat stress or heat exhaustion issues can be avoided by taking simple precautions:

Stay hydrated by drinking lots of water. Avoid overindulging in alcoholic liquids, caffeine and avoid wearing excessive layers of clothing. Consider the Three L’s Rule: light-colored, lightweight and loose-fitting. Wear garments made of natural fibers like cotton. Review tips for ways to stay safe and cool during the summer heat.

For tips and general information about being prepared and ready at special events, read the Special Event Safety Guide before you attend.

Portable restroom facilities, including ADA-compliant units, will be available for use throughout the festival grounds.

Small clutch bags, which cannot exceed 4.5 inches by 6.5 inches in size, with or without a handle or strap, can be taken into festival grounds as well.

Trash Removal

At the conclusion of the event, all trash collection and street cleaning will be managed and handled by the Sanitation Division of the Streets Department.
If you need to report any excess trash in the area, post-event, residents can call 311 or 215-686-8686.

Source: https://patch.com/

Notting Hill Carnival Returns To London Streets After Hiatus

The annual Notting Hill Carnival has returned to the streets of London for the first time since 2019, with more than 1 million people expected to take in the music, spectacular parades, dancing and food offerings at Europe’s largest street party on Sunday and Monday.

The carnival, which celebrates Caribbean culture at the end of August every year, had to take place online for two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The carnival traces its history back to 1958, when Trinidadian human rights activist Claudia Jones began organizing a gathering to unify the community after a series of racially motivated attacks on West Indians in west London’s Notting Hill neighborhood.

The event has grown from a festival drawing several hundred people to a huge annual street party, with tens of thousands of performers in the parade and more than 30 sound systems.

Celebrations began on Saturday night, as more than 1,000 people gathered to watch a steel band competition in west London.

Pepe Francis heads the Ebony Steelband Trust, which has been performing at the carnival for decades.

“Since the band has started, I’m on my fifth generation of people and there’s been a lot of changes,” he said. “But our members look forward to carnival every year and practice takes place regularly from year to year.”

“A lot of people have been waiting for it to come back,” Francis added.

Serbia’s Leader Says EuroPride Won’t Happen Due To Threats

(AP) — Serbia won’t allow a pan-European LGBTQ Pride event to take place in Belgrade next month, the president said Saturday, citing threats from right-wing extremists and fears of clashes.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced the decision to cancel the Sept. 12-18 EuroPride celebration during a news conference where he also proposed extending the term of Serbia’s prime minister, who is a lesbian.

“It’s not the question of whether they (extremists) are stronger, but you just can’t do it all at the same moment, and that’s it,” Vucic said. “I am not happy about it but we can’t manage.”

Members of the European Pride Organizers Association chose Serbia’s capital three years ago to host the annual event. Vucic said a crisis with neighboring Kosovo and economic problems were among the reasons why the Balkan nation’s authorities did not think they could handle EuroPride, which features a Pride parade.

“This is a violation of minority rights, but at this moment the state is pressured by numerous problems,” he said.

EuroPride organizers said Serbian authorities must provide security against “bullies” who threaten the march and seek to discredit it. European Pride Organizers President Kristine Garina urged Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic to honor a promise to support the event.

“President Vucic cannot cancel someone else’s event,” Garina said. “The right to hold Pride has been ruled by the European Court of Human Rights to be a fundamental human right.”

An organizer in Serbia, Goran Miletic, said police must formally ban the march to prevent it from happening. If they issue a ban, organizers would file a complaint at Serbia’s Constitutional Court. He insisted that indoor events planned as part of the week-long celebration can’t be banned.

The government, however, later said “there are no conditions to hold the EuroPride 2022 safely,” adding that “certain extremist groups could use and abuse the event and Serbia’s will to host it, to increase tensions and lead Serbia into instability.”

The statement offered no details about the alledged extremist groups.

Serbia has pledged to protect LGBTQ rights as it seeks EU membership, but increasingly vocal right-wing supporters harass and sometimes attack people based on their presumed sexual orientation or gender identity. Opponents of the pride also include the influential Serbian Orthodox Church.

The church on Saturday hailed Vucic’s announcement, saying the pride serves “to promote LGBT ideology being imposed on Europe and so-called Western world in general.” The church also said holding the event would only fuel divisions during a crisis over Kosovo.

Serbia’s right-wing and pro-Russian groups have gained strength in the past several years and some secured parliament seats during the country’s general election in April. Several thousand people recently joined a march in Belgrade against LGBTQ Pride.

Vucic won another five-year term in Apriland his Serbian Progressive Party won the general election in a landslide. The president said Saturday that Brnabic, who has led Serbia’s previous two governments, should lead the new Cabinet that is expected to be formed in the coming weeks.

Brnabic first became Serbia’s prime minister in 2017, in what was seen as major change for the country that is predominantly conservative and male-dominated. Brnabic lives with her female partner, but LGBTQ groups have criticized the prime minister, saying she has done little to improve the position of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals in Serbian society.

After Belgrade’s 2010 pride march produced clashes, subsequent marches took place with strong police protection.

EuroPride was first celebrated in London in 1992, and Belgrade was set to be the first city in southeast Europe to host the event, according to organizers. Next month’s event was expected to attract thousands of people from throughout Europe.

Vucic said the celebration could be postponed for “happier times.” He insisted that state authorities must plan instead for energy problems anticipated for the winter, partly as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The Serbian government has condemned the Russian invasion but has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia.

Vucic said tensions with Kosovo, a former Serbian province whose independence the government in Belgrade has refused to recognize, were another source of pressure on authorities.

The tensions soared last month from a dispute over travel documents and license plates, and have raised concerns about instability in the Balkans, where multiple wars were fought amid the breakup of Yugoslavia. U.S. and EU envoys visited Kosovo and Serbia earlier this week in an effort to ease the tensions.

Travelore News: US Suspends Chinese Airline Flights In COVID-19 Dispute

The U.S. government is suspending 26 flights by Chinese airlines from the United States to China in a dispute over anti-virus controls after Beijing suspended flights by American carriers.

The Department of Transportation on Thursday complained Beijing violated an air travel agreement and treated airlines unfairly under a system that requires them to suspend flights if passengers test positive for COVID-19.

U.S. regulators suspended seven flights by Air China Ltd. from New York City and a total of 19 flights from Los Angeles by Air China, China Eastern Airlines Ltd., China Southern Airlines Ltd. and Xiamen Airlines Ltd., according to the Department of Transportation.

It said that was equal to the number of flights United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines were required to cancel under Beijing’s “circuit-breaker” system.

The ruling Communist Party’s “zero COVID” strategy aims to keep the virus out of China while other governments are shifting to living with the disease. That has kept case numbers low but disrupted travel, manufacturing and trade. Beijing is easing travel curbs, but most foreign visitors still are barred from China.

Until Aug. 7, if up to nine passengers on a flight tested positive, a carrier could suspend a flight for two weeks or reduce the passengers it carried to 40% of the possible total, according to DoT. It said that since Aug. 7 airlines have been required to suspend a flight if the number of positive tests reaches 4% of passengers on one flight.

The agency complained that airlines face “undue culpability” for passengers who present negative test results before boarding but test positive after arriving in China.

China’s actions are “premised on circumstances wholly outside of the carriers’ control,” the U.S. statement said.

“We reserve the right to take additional action” if Beijing imposes “further circuit-breaker measures,” the statement said.

The Barnes Foundation In Philadelphia Presents ModIgliani Up Close, October 16, 2022–January 29, 2023

This fall, in celebration of its centennial, the Barnes Foundation will present Modigliani Up Close, a major loan exhibition that shares new insights into Amedeo Modigliani’s working methods and materials. On view in the Roberts Gallery from October 16, 2022, through January 29, 2023, Modigliani Up Close is curated by an international team of art historians and conservators: Barbara Buckley, Senior Director of Conservation and Chief Conservator of Paintings at the Barnes; Simonetta Fraquelli, independent curator and consulting curator for the Barnes; Nancy Ireson, Deputy Director for Collections and Exhibitions & Gund Family Chief Curator at the Barnes; and Annette King, Paintings Conservator at Tate, London.

Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920) is among the most celebrated artists of the 20th century. While many exhibitions have endeavored to reunite his paintings, sculptures, and drawings, Modigliani Up Close offers a unique opportunity to examine their production and explore how Modigliani constructed and composed his signature works. Featuring new scholarship that builds on research that began in 2017 with the major Modigliani retrospective at Tate Modern, this single-venue exhibition and its accompanying catalogue are the culmination of years of research by conservators and curators across Europe and the Americas. Modigliani Up Close furthers understanding of Modigliani’s approach to his art, refines a chronology of his paintings and sculptures, and helps to establish the locations and circumstances of where he worked.

“We are pleased to present this major exhibition that offers a detailed investigation of Modigliani’s unique style,” says Thom Collins, Neubauer Family Executive Director and President. “Stemming from a multiyear, global research effort, the show has brought the international art community together to create a collaborative vision of the artist’s practice, leaving a lasting legacy for future Modigliani scholarship. The Barnes collection is home to 16 works by the artist, one of the largest and most important groups of the artist’s works in the world, and the project provided a unique opportunity to fully explore their significance. We see once more how Dr. Barnes broke new ground in the history of collecting modern art.”

Featuring nearly 50 works from major collections, and organized into thematic sections, the exhibition presents paintings and sculptures alongside new findings that have resulted from the technical research of collaborating conservators, conservation scientists, and curators. Using analytical techniques, including X-radiography, infrared reflectography, and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), conservators and conservation scientists reveal previously unknown aspects of Modigliani’s work. Visitors will feel closer to Modigliani as an artist, seeing his work through the eyes of the experts, catching glimpses of the artist’s hand hidden beneath the surfaces of his work.

“Thanks to the work of conservators and curators from museums around the globe, Modigliani Up Close offers an unrivaled opportunity to understand how the artist made his iconic paintings and sculptures,” says Nancy Ireson. “The exhibition is a perfect demonstration of how, in addition to producing innovative research, the Barnes Foundation brings together colleagues in the field to share their findings and thoughts.”

This exhibition holds a special significance at the Barnes, as Dr. Albert C. Barnes was one of Modigliani’s earliest collectors in the United States and helped shape the artist’s critical reception in this country. In addition to works on paper, there are 12 significant paintings and one carved stone sculpture by Modigliani in the Barnes collection. With 12 paintings each, the Barnes and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, have the largest collections of Modigliani paintings in the world.

Modigliani Up Close is sponsored by Morgan Stanley and Comcast NBCUniversal. Additional support is provided by the David Berg Foundation, Sue Perel Rosefsky, Alter Family Foundation, Pamela and David Berkman, Julie Jensen Bryan and Robert Bryan, Laura and Bill Buck, Marianne Dean, Dietz & Watson, Roberta and Carl Dranoff, Deborah Glass, Anne and Matt Hamilton, Pamela and James Hill, Amy Donohue-Korman and John Korman, Sueyun and Gene Locks, the Samuel P. Mandell Foundation, Yasmina M. Moukarzel, Nicole and James Schaeffer, Joan Thalheimer, Harriet and Larry Weiss, Margaret and Tom Whitford, Randi Zemsky and Bob Lane, and other generous individuals.

To learn more about works in Modigliani Up Close, visitors can use Barnes Focus, a mobile guide that works on any smartphone with a web browser. Previously only accessible for works in the Barnes collection, Modigliani Up Close marks the first occasion Barnes Focus can be used to explore loaned works in an exhibition. To use it, visitors simply open the guide by navigating to barnesfoc.us on a mobile browser and focus on a work of art; the guide will recognize the work and deliver information about it. Barnes Focus also leverages the Google Translate API, so you can automatically translate the guide into a variety of languages.

For more details, please visit: https://www.barnesfoundation.org/plan-your-visit

Japan To Ease COVID-19 Border Controls Sept. 7

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday announced plans to ease border controls from early September by eliminating requirements for pre-departure COVID-19 tests for travelers who have received at least three vaccine doses, and he will also consider increasing daily entry caps as soon as next month.

Japan, which has imposed some of the toughest border measures for the coronavirus, currently requires negative PCR test results within 72 hours of departure for all entrants, a practice that has been criticized as cumbersome.

Kishida, after holding virtual meetings with government ministers and medical advisors earlier Wednesday, told reporters in an online news conference that entrants who have received at least one booster vaccine can waive the pre-entry test beginning Sept. 7.

“We plan to gradually ease border controls to allow entry procedures to be as smooth as those of other Group of Seven countries,” Kishida said from his official residence, where he has been on duty while isolating after testing positive for COVID-19 on Sunday.

Kishida said his government also plans to increase the daily cap for incoming travelers, currently set at 20,000, “as soon as possible.” Media reports say the government is considering more than doubling the daily cap to 50,000 as early as next month.

“Our fight against the virus is not easy, but we should not be too afraid and instead take into consideration the characteristics of the omicron variant,” Kishida said. “We will speed up our responses while balancing the infection measures and social and economic activities as much as possible.”

Kishida said Japan plans to shorten the self-isolation period for COVID-19 patients from the current 10 days for those with symptoms and one week for those without symptoms. Officials are finalizing those details, he said.

In June, Japan partially opened its borders to foreign tourists for the first time in two years but only allowing those who agree to join package tours with guides. The number of entrants has dwindled under those restrictions.

Business organizations in and outside Japan have called for the country to ease its border controls to support the economy, especially the tourism industry, which has been badly hurt by the pandemic. But many Japanese are wary of further easing border measures because the country has been struggling with a seventh wave of infections.

Clinics have been flooded with patients with mild symptoms such as fever, sore throat and coughs, amid a lack of testing and test kits at pharmacies and online.

By MARI YAMAGUCHI

Palestinians Fly To Cyprus In Israeli Airport Pilot Program

JERUSALEM (AP) — Several dozen Palestinians flew to Cyprus on Monday from an airport in southern Israel as part of a pilot program to allow Palestinians from the occupied West Bank to fly abroad.

The move was part of a series of gestures Israel says it is making to improve living conditions of Palestinians in both the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Forty-three residents of the West Bank cities of Bethlehem, Jericho, Ramallah and Nablus took off from Ramon Airport heading to Larnaca, Cyprus, said Amir Assi, a strategic consultant who coordinated the flights.

COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for governing civil affairs in the West Bank, confirmed that Palestinians boarded an international flight from Ramon Airport for the first time and that “staff work is still under way” to facilitate regular flights for Palestinians.

The recently opened Ramon Airport is located near Israel’s resort city of Eilat, about 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of Jerusalem. It is smaller than Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv, has fewer flights and destinations and is less busy.

Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip do not have their own airport and must apply for a hard-to-obtain airport permit to use the Ben Gurion airport. Such permits are only approved, if at all, shortly before takeoff.

Those in the West Bank wishing to fly abroad must travel to Jordan’s capital of Amman through a crowded Israeli border crossing. The crossing isn’t open 24 hours a day, forcing many travelers to pay to stay in a hotel nearby ahead of their flight. There are also travel costs and crossing fees that make the journey an added financial burden.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade since the militant Hamas group seized power in 2007, and all movement in and out of the territory is heavily restricted.

The airport authority said earlier this month that there would be twice weekly flights for Palestinians from Ramon to Antalya, Turkey, later in August and that flights to Istanbul would begin in September.

Israel captured both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians seek them for a future state. There have not been substantive peace talks in over a decade.

Greater Fort Lauderdale Features Dine Out And Spa Days Through September 30, 2022

Visit Lauderdale’s annual summer savings program LauderDeals expands with irresistible Dine Out Lauderdale and Spa Days specials during August and September.

 
Dine Out Lauderdale, your entrée into Greater Fort Lauderdale’s diverse culinary scene, has something for every foodie under the sun. Diners will enjoy taste-tempting meals at some of the area’s top restaurants by taking advantage of special Dine Out Lauderdale menus, all with at least three courses for $35 or $45.

Several of Fort Lauderdale’s hottest new restaurants have Dine Out Lauderdale menus this summer. Don’t miss the chance to sample Mediterranean delights at an unbeatable price including appetizer, entrée and dessert at Evelyn’s Fort Lauderdale at the Four Seasons; or make a reservation for a much sought-after table at The Katherine. DUNE by Laurent Tourondel brings an elevated dining experience with its Dine Out Lauderdale menu to be savored oceanfront at the Auberge Residences on the beach in Fort Lauderdale. Union Kitchen & Bar’s menu isn’t only delicious, it’s a great deal at $35 for three courses. Shady Distillery offers a four-course menu with each course paired with a boozy beverage made from their house-distilled Shady Vodka or 12 Mile Rum. Or choose any one of the more than 40 participating Dine Out Lauderdale restaurants and try them now before fall and winter season crowds return.

“Greater Fort Lauderdale restaurants participating in this year’s Dine Out Lauderdale have gone above and beyond developing some irresistible menus at great prices,” says Stacy Ritter, president & CEO of Visit Lauderdale.
 
Other restaurants new to Dine Out Lauderdale include Big Buns, Planta Queen and more. In addition to new restaurant experiences, locals and visitors can take a stroll down Las Olas to experience the boulevard’s amazing atmosphere and sample Dine Out Lauderdale menus at favorite stops like  American Social, Sushi Garage, and YOLO Restaurant.
 
Also taking place during August and September, Spa Days tempts those in search of quality self-care with great prices on specialty treatments, some starting as low as $99.  The Spa at Auberge Beach offers its Auberge Signature Spa Manicure & Pedicure for $99, or you can indulge in a day of escape with the Vitality Beach & Day Pass that includes a welcome glass of prosecco, beach lounge chair, umbrella and spa amenities. Other tempting Spa Days offers can be found at Fort Lauderdale Marriott Pompano Beach Resort & Spa, Pelican Grand Beach Resort and more.
 
Summer LauderDeals for hotels and attractions continue to run through September with some extending to the end of the year. Check out the full range of hotel and attraction deals at VisitLauderdale.com/deals offering a wide range of ways to save. These offers combined with Dine Out Lauderdale and Spa Days deals combine for a perfect getaway or staycation indulgence.

Philadelphia Ballet Breaking Ground On North Broad Street Expansion

From a vantage point looking northeast from Broad Street, a rendering of Philadelphia Ballet's newly expanded dance center as it will appear when finished. A dance studio is shown in the glass box atop the structure. Varenhorst Architects

Philadelphia Ballet is finally getting a long-delayed front door on the burgeoning northern leg of the Avenue of the Arts.

The company expects to hold a groundbreaking next month on an expansion of its North Broad Street headquarters that will more than triple its current space with a suite of dance studios, offices, a new black box theater, and other public areas. The $34 million project builds onto the ballet’s current low-slung building to create a five-story facade on Broad Street with glassed-in studios visible on the top floor.

A rendering of "Studio F" on the top floor of Philadelphia Ballet's future addition to its North Broad Street headquarters. Varenhorst Architects

Completion of the 43,000-square-foot addition, expected in spring 2024, caps a plan the ballet envisioned when the company acquired its site on Broad near Callowhill Street in 2007.

The expansion of facilities at the city’s major dance organization will put it on par with those of peer companies across the country, says Philadelphia Ballet executive director Shelly Power.

“We are bursting at the seams,” said Power of current facilities. Square footage will go from 15,000 to 58,000, with the number of studios nearly doubling to seven and a half.

“At least we’ll be with the national average,” says Power. “We’re the last [major] company to really have a building that lets us grow a school, do community engagement, to have a black box.”

A space in the Philadelphia Ballet's expanded facility can be used either as a small black box theater or a rehearsal studio. Varenhorst Architects

The expansion promises to add to the already blossoming street life of this stretch of Broad north of City Hall. Plans call for the ballet’s facade to be fronted with streetscape furniture and a video billboard to catch the eyes of passersby.

“We could be showing what’s going on in the studio, we could be showing a clip of Swan Lake,” says Power. “I think it’s just going to enhance North Broad.”

The building project is part of a larger plan to return the company to growth mode after a difficult period. The pandemic forced the cancellation of The Nutcracker, the ballet’s reliable cash cow, in 2020. Fund-raising for the expansion proved tougher than expected.

The building project and related strategic plan are, in many ways, a validation of recommendations made in 2013 by arts consultant Michael Kaiser, who was brought in to diagnose the company’s organizational ills.

“You don’t get healthy by shrinking,” Kaiser advised at the time. “I said to them, ‘Think big.’ "

Now, the ballet is. The strategic plan calls for increasing the number of productions and boosting the number of dancers in the company. This season there are 50 dancers, up from 43 in 2021-22 and on the way to a goal of 54. The company also expects to vastly increase the number of students in its school.

“I expect it to double if not triple,” says Power. “We expect to get up around 500.”

A gathering space is shown in a rendering of Philadelphia Ballet's expanded dance center on North Broad Street just south of Callowhill Street. Varenhorst Architects

Since 2017, the design of the facilities expansion has evolved to rebalance the public function of the building with dancer-only spaces. A public gathering area will host events like dancer meet-and-greets and book readings. An artists’ wall is expected to host exhibitions. Parents will be able to have coffee there while waiting for students to come from classes and rehearsals.

“This is quite different than the plans they were looking at in past iterations mainly because they were so focused on the dancers,” said Power. “But we really expanded because we wanted to focus on the community and become a hub for the area where people could come and see things, experience things and be a part of it.”

“It’s going to change the dynamics of the whole company,” said Philadelphia Ballet Peter Dobrin artistic director Angel Corella, citing the prospect of closer contact between the public and dancers. He also said improved facilities would strengthen the company’s ability to attract and retain dancers.

“Our dancers are getting offers all the time,” he said.

With the company's former name still on the current building in the background, Philadelphia Ballet artistic director Angel Corella and executive director Shelly Power stand on the site of the North Broad Street addition.Read more CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

In addition to the new black box theater and rehearsal studios, the project will provide administrative offices, physical therapy facilities for dancers, and a cyber school classroom.

The $34 million budget — 60% of which is already raised from private donors and state government — will also cover renovations of the existing building, which opened in 2012.

The addition has not yet been named for a donor, Power said.

Nearly all of the spaces in the new building will be multipurpose. Chief among them is the first-floor black box theater designed to be reconfigured in 30 minutes from theater to a rehearsal space of a size the ballet does not currently have.

“It’s bigger than the Academy [of Music] stage. [Now], when they’re doing Swan Lake, literally, they’re in the hallway waiting to run in as a corps. Here, they can fit the whole company in, they can actually have people seated watching the rehearsal. And then it turns into a performance space.”

Looking toward North Broad Street across the site where the Philadelphia Ballet's expanded facilities will be built. CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

Power also sees the space’s potential for building relationships with donors and audiences.

“You can have free performances, you can have young kids come in for a 45-minute show, and then you get to be right on top of the dancers.”

When dancers call children up from the audience and demonstrate live by saying, “Let’s lift you, let’s turn you,” that’s real engagement, says Power.

“That’s where you win your fans for the future.”

Source: https://www.inquirer.com/, Peter Dobrin

Matisse In The 1930s Coming October 20, 2022–January 29, 2023 To The Philadelphia Museum Of Art

By 1930, Henri Matisse had achieved significant international renown, yet he found himself in a deep creative slump. The turning point came in the fall of that year with a commission to decorate the main gallery of the Barnes Foundation, then located in a suburb of Philadelphia. The resulting monumental mural, The Dance (1930–33), turned Matisse’s artistic practice around.

Matisse in the 1930s explores changes in the artist’s work across multiple formats, including easel and decorative painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, and the illustrated book. The exhibition also addresses the methods of working that renewed Matisse’s style, as well as his modern renderings of mythological themes from antiquity, his depictions of female models in the studio, and his partnership with his studio manager and model, Lydia Delectorskaya.

2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway Philadelphia, PA 19130 215-763-8100

https://philamuseum.org/

Travelore News: London’s Tube Lines Hit By Strike, Day After Rail Walkout

LONDON (AP) — A strike by London Underground workers brought the British capital’s transit network to a grinding halt on Friday, a day after a nationwide walkout by railway staff. Another rail strike is scheduled for Saturday as the U.K. endures a summer of action by workers demanding pay increases to offset soaring food and energy price hikes.

No subway trains were running on most of London’s Tube lines because of the strike over jobs, pay and pensions by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union, operator Transport for London said.

“It is going to be a difficult day,” said Nick Dent, TFL’s director of customer operations. “We’re advising customers not to travel on the Tube at all.”

There was also continuing disruption above ground as trains started to run again following Thursday’s strike by thousands of railway cleaners, signalers, maintenance workers and other staff. Only about a fifth of trains ran during the 24-hour walkout, the latest in a series of strikes on Britain’s railways.

“We’re very sorry that people are inconvenienced,” said RMT union General Secretary Mick Lynch. “We’re ordinary men and women that want to do our jobs and provide a service, but when you’re being cut to pieces by an employer, and by the government, you’ve got to make a stand.”

Transit unions accuse Britain’s Conservative government of preventing train companies — which are privately owned but heavily regulated — from making a better offer. The government denies meddling, but says rail companies need to cut costs and staffing after two years in which emergency government funding kept them afloat.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Times Radio that “it’s a kick in the teeth” to the public for unions “to turn round after we provided 16 billion pounds of support for the railways and go ‘Right, well, the next thing we’re going to do is go on strike.’”

More public- and private-sector unions are planning strikes as Britain faces its worst cost-of-living crisis in decades. Postal workers, lawyers, British Telecom staff and port workers have all announced walkouts for later this month.

Garbage collectors and recycling workers in Edinburgh, Scotland, began an 11-day strike on Thursday, warning that trash will pile up in the streets as tourists flock to the city for the Edinburgh Fringe and other arts festivals.

U.K. inflation hit a new 40-year high of 10.1% in July, and the Bank of England says it could rise to 13% amid a recession later this year. The average U.K. household fuel bill has risen more than 50% so far in 2022 as Russia’s war in Ukraine squeezes global oil and natural gas supplies. Another increase is due in October, when the average bill is forecast to hit 3,500 pounds ($4,300) a year.

Midtown Manhattan Office Tower Swaps In Jean-Georges Restaurant After Booting Daniel Humm Over Vegan Focus

A rendering of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s upcoming restaurant at 425 Park Avenue. Foster + Partners/425 Park Avenue

Hot off the heels of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s long-in-the-works Tin Building resurrection, the New York Post reports that the renowned chef and restaurateur will be taking over the sprawling, bi-level restaurant at the base of the new Midtown office tower at 425 Park Avenue, between East 55th and 56th streets. The space was originally supposed to be helmed by Eleven Madison Park chef Daniel Humm, but the real estate company behind the tower broke ties with Humm after the chef said he’d only build a vegan restaurant. Vongerichten’s restaurant at 425 Park Avenue — with soaring, 25-foot-high ceilings and a 1,000-square-foot show kitchen — is slated to open sometime in late 2023.

Source: https://ny.eater.com/

Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants Set To Return On November 15th In Mérida, Yucatán

MÉRIDA, Yucatán — Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022, sponsored by San Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, will return on Tuesday, Nov. 15 to a regular list and an in-person awards ceremony — the first full gathering of Latin America’s gastronomic community since 2019. Previously held in Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Argentina, the awards program will return to Mexico in 2022 with a new home here in Mérida in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism of the State of Yucatán.

Chefs, restaurateurs, media and gourmands will gather in the cultural and gastronomic capital of Mexico’s southeast region for the pinnacle of the year’s culinary calendar to celebrate the richness and diversity of Latin American cuisine. An exclusive events program hosted throughout Mérida will culminate in the awards ceremony on the evening of Nov. 15. Three special award announcements will precede the live program, including Latin America’s Best Female Chef Award on Sept. 20, the Icon Award on Oct. 11 and the American Express One To Watch Award on Oct. 25.

Despite the toll Covid-19 took on the region’s restaurant sector, 50 Best will celebrate more dining venues than ever before with the announcement of an inaugural list of 50 more restaurants ranked 51st to 100th best in Latin America. The 51-to-100 list will be announced on Nov. 3, shining a much-deserved spotlight on a greater number of hospitality establishments and the diverse culinary cultures of the region.

“We are very excited to bring as many people as possible together from across Latin America once again in 2022,” said William Drew, Director of Content for Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants. “We look forward to celebrating more restaurants, teams and culinary talent than ever, as well as experiencing the vibrant city of Mérida and exploring the gastronomically diverse region of Yucatán. At the same time, 50 Best aims to foster collaboration, inclusivity and discovery, and help drive positive change in the hospitality sector.”

Michelle Fridman, Tourism Minister of Yucatán, called it “an honor” for the state to host Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022. “The Yucatán is home to one of the best gastronomy scenes, and as we start our celebration of a year of Yucatecan cuisine, we are thrilled to show the world’s greatest chefs our culinary offer,” she said.

The 50 Best organization’s role in promoting restaurants and showcasing culinary talent remains more important than ever, continuing to support the hospitality sector by inspiring diners to seek out exciting gastronomic experiences.

New York Law Will Require Museums To Disclose Works Looted By Nazis

New York governor Kathy Hochul on August 10 signed legislation that will require museums in the state to publicly acknowledge whether a displayed work has passed through Nazi hands. The signing ceremony took place at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York. According to the new law, any exhibited artwork that “changed hands due to theft, seizure, confiscation, forced sale, or other involuntary means” during World War II and the run-up to that conflict must be accompanied by a wall label or placard detailing its history. New York law already requires works of this nature to be recorded in the Art Loss Register, the world’s largest private database of stolen art. The legislation does not apply to works seized in other contexts, by other parties in other eras.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo: Bill Gracey/Flickr.

Recent years have seen a number of cases in which heirs have sued New York museums in attempts to recover works—among them three paintings by George Grosz that reside in the Museum of Modern Art and Pablo Picasso’s The Actor, 1904–05, previously owned by Jewish collectors Paul and Alice Leffmann and which now hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art—they claim were looted or sold under duress during the Nazi regime. In both of those cases, the museums were allowed to keep the works, in part due to the statute of limitations.

The bill was introduced by State Senator Anna M. Kaplan. “During the Holocaust, some 600,000 paintings were stolen from Jewish people not only for their value, but to wipe our culture and identity off the face of the Earth,” said Kaplan in a statement. “Today, artwork previously stolen by the Nazis can be found hanging in museums around New York with no recognition of the dark paths they traveled there. With the history of the Holocaust being so important to pass on to the next generation, it’s vital that we be transparent and ensure that anyone viewing artwork stolen by the Nazis understand where it came from and its role in history.”

The new law is one of several aimed at raising awareness of the Holocaust, broadly seen as increasingly necessary, as the event recedes into history and living memory of the tragedy fades. Hochul also signed legislation authorizing the commission of education to conduct a survey regarding instruction on the Holocaust, and a law requiring the state superintendent of financial services to maintain and update a list of financial institutions that waive wire transfer or processing fees associated with Holocaust reparations payments.

Source: https://www.artforum.com/

Royal Caribbean Joins Norwegian In Eliminating COVID Vaccine Requirement For Some Cruise Ships

Royal Caribbean has become the second cruise line to drop its COVID vaccine requirement for some sailings, following Norwegian Cruise Line, and after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eliminated its COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships in July.

The COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships was a voluntary program that provided recommendations to the cruise industry on COVID safety measures such as testing and vaccinations.

Royal Caribbean's vaccination change will go into effect on Sept. 5. On this date, COVID vaccinations will no longer be required for all passengers on cruises from Los Angeles; Galveston, Texas; New Orleans, Louisiana; and also, from a European homeport.

However, passengers looking to get off the ship in the Grand Cayman will need to be fully vaccinated, while those looking to get off in Greece or Spain will need to take a COVID test, Royal Caribbean said.

Royal Caribbean will continue to require vaccinations to board its ship for those passengers 12 and older prior to Sept. 5 and also for certain other cruise ports until further notice.

The cruise line said on its website that it is working with local governments in the Eastern Caribbean on vaccination requirements for more destinations, adding, "We want to ensure a great experience going ashore at these ports, for guests of any vaccination status, while meeting local health regulations. We'll have more info in the coming days."

Unvaccinated Royal Caribbean passengers will still be subject to COVID testing for boarding depending on their sailing, while vaccinated passengers will only need a COVID test on cruises that are six nights or longer unless their destination warrants otherwise. European requirements for COVID testing requirements have remained unchanged.

Royal Caribbean has also changed the COVID vaccination policy on its subsidiary Celebrity Cruises, which will also begin on Sept. 5 for all unvaccinated passengers. Travelers can now sail on cruises departing from the U.K, Europe, with the exception of Iceland, and Los Angeles, without having to be fully vaccinated.

The news that Royal Caribbean eliminated its COVID vaccination requirement for some cruises comes just days after Norwegian Cruise Line announced that it would drop its COVID vaccine requirement on Sept. 3 for all passengers 12 and older with proof of a negative COVID-19 test. No additional protocols or testing requirements will apply for younger guests.

Norwegian's COVID policy change also applies to its Regent Seven Seas and Oceania cruise brands.

By Dawn Geske, https://www.ibtimes.com/

Italy’s Lake Garda Shrinks To Near-Historic Low Amid Drought

Italy’s worst drought in decades has reduced Lake Garda, the country’s largest lake, to near its lowest level ever recorded, exposing swaths of previously underwater rocks and warming the water to temperatures that approach the average in the Caribbean Sea.

Tourists flocking to the popular northern lake Friday for the start of Italy’s key summer long weekend found a vastly different landscape than in past years. An expansive stretch of bleached rock extended far from the normal shoreline, ringing the southern Sirmione Peninsula with a yellow halo between the green hues of the water and the trees on the shore.

“We came last year, we liked it, and we came back this year,” tourist Beatrice Masi said as she sat on the rocks. “We found the landscape had changed a lot. We were a bit shocked when we arrived because we had our usual walk around, and the water wasn’t there.”

Northern Italy hasn’t seen significant rainfall for months, and snowfall this year was down 70%, drying up important rivers like the Po, which flows across Italy’s agricultural and industrial heartland. Many European countries, including Spain, Germany, Portugal, France, the Netherlands and Britain, are enduring droughts this summer that have hurt farmers and shippers and promoted authorities to restrict water use.

The parched condition of the Po, Italy’s longest river, has already caused billions of euros in losses to farmers who normally rely on it to irrigate fields and rice paddies.

To compensate, authorities allowed more water from Lake Garda to flow out to local rivers — 70 cubic meters (2,472 cubic feet) of water per second. But in late July, they reduced the amount to protect the lake and the financially important tourism tied to it.

With 45 cubic meters (1,589 cubic feet) of water per second being diverted to rivers, the lake on Friday was 32 centimeters (12.6 inches) above the water table, near the record lows in 2003 and 2007.

Garda Mayor Davide Bedinelli said he had to protect both farmers and the tourist industry. He insisted that the summer tourist season was going better than expected, despite cancellations, mostly from German tourists, during Italy’s latest heat wave in late July.

“Drought is a fact that we have to deal with this year, but the tourist season is in no danger,” Bendinelli wrote in a July 20 Facebook post.

He confirmed the lake was losing two centimeters (.78 inches) of water a day.

The lake’s temperature, meanwhile, has been above average for August, according to seatemperature.org. On Friday, the Garda’s water was nearly 26 degrees Celsius (78 degrees Fahrenheit), several degrees warmer than the average August temperature of 22 C (71.6 F) and nearing the Caribbean Sea’s average of around 27 C (80 F).

For Mario Treccani, who owns a lakefront concession of beach chairs and umbrellas, the lake’s expanded shoreline means fewer people are renting his chairs since there are now plenty of rocks on which to sunbathe.

“The lake is usually a meter or more than a meter higher,” he said from the rocks.

Pointing to a small wall that usually blocks the water from the beach chairs, he recalled that on windy days, sometimes waves from the lake would splash up onto the tourists.

Not anymore.

“It is a bit sad. Before, you could hear the noise of the waves breaking up here. Now, you don’t hear anything,” he said.

By ANDREA ROSA and LUIGI NAVARRA

Getty Museum In LA To Return Illegally Exported Art To Italy

The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles is returning ancient sculptures and other works of art that were illegally exported from Italy, the museum announced Thursday.

The Getty will return a nearly life-size group of Greek terra-cotta sculptures known as “Orpheus and the Sirens,” believed to date from the fourth century B.C., according to the museum.

The sculpture group was purchased by J. Paul Getty in 1976 shortly before his death and had been on display for decades.

However, the museum now believes they were illegally excavated and taken out of Italy, based on evidence uncovered by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, the Getty said in a statement.

“It’s just extremely rare and there’s nothing similar in our collection, or closely similar in any collection,” Getty Museum director Timothy Potts told the Los Angeles Times. “It does leave a hole in our gallery but with this evidence that came forth, there was no question that it needed to be sent back to Italy.”

The fragile sculptures will be sent to Rome in September to join collections designated by the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Getty said.

The museum also is working with the Ministry of Culture to arrange the return of four other objects at a future date. Those include a “colossal marble head of a divinity” and a stone mold for casting pendants, both from the second century A.D., along with an Etruscan bronze incense burner from the fourth century B.C. and a 19th century painting by Camillo Miola entitled “Oracle at Delphi,” the Getty said.

These Are The Worst Airports For Summer Travel (In The US And Europe)

New data from AirHelp, an air passenger rights company, reveals the worst airports for on-time performance in both the U.S. and Europe. AirHelp looked at flights from peak summer travel season (May 27, 2022 – July 31, 2022) and found the following:

US – Airports with most cancellations (based on % of cancelled flights)

*For reference, about 2.6% of all flights across the US were cancelled

LGA – LaGuardia Airport (7.7%)

EWR - Newark Liberty International Airport (7.6%)

DCA - Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (5.9%)

PIT – Pittsburgh International Airport (4.1%)

BOS – Boston Logan International Airport (4%)

CLT – Charlotte Douglas International Airport (3.8%)

PHL – Philadelphia International Airport (3.8%)

CLE – Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (3.7%)

MIA – Miami International Airport (3.7%)

JFK – John F. Kennedy International Airport (3.6%)

Europe – Airports with most cancellations (based on % of cancelled flights)

*For reference, about 2.3% of all flights across Europe were cancelled (between May 27, 2022 – July 31, 2022)

OSL – Oslo Gardermoen Airport – 8.3%

CGN – Cologne / Bonn Apt – 6.7%

BGO – Bergen – 5.5%

FRA – Frankfurt International Airport – 5.1%

HAM – Hamburg Airport – 4.9%

MXP – Milan Malpensa Apt – 4.7%

CPH – Copenhagen Kastrup Apt – 4.6%

AMS – Amsterdam – 4.3%

ARN – Stockholm Arlanda Apt – 4.3%

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African Wildlife Parks Face Climate, Infrastructure Threats

MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — Africa’s national parks, home to thousands of wildlife species such as lions, elephants and buffaloes, are increasingly threatened by below-average rainfall and new infrastructure projects.

A prolonged drought in much of the continent’s east, exacerbated by climate change, and large-scale developments, including oil drilling and livestock grazing, are hampering conservation efforts in protected areas, several environmental experts say.

The at-risk parks stretch all the way from Kenya in the east — home to Tsavo and Nairobi national parks — south to the Mkomazi and Serengeti parks in Tanzania, the Quirimbas and Gorongosa parks in Mozambique and the famous Kruger National Park in South Africa, and west to the Kahuzi Biega, Salonga and Virunga reserves in Congo.

The parks not only protect flora and fauna but also act as natural carbon sinks — storing carbon dioxide emitted into the air and reducing the effects of global warming.

An estimated 38% of Africa’s biodiversity areas are under severe threat from climate change and infrastructure development, said Ken Mwathe of BirdLife International.

“Key biodiversity areas over the years, especially in Africa, have been regarded by investors as idle and ready for development,” said Mwathe. “Governments allocate land in these areas for infrastructural development.”

He added that the “powerlines and other energy infrastructure cause collisions with birds, due to low visibility. The numbers killed this way are not few.”

In their quest to bolster living standards and achieve sustainable development goals, such as access to clean water and food, boosting jobs and economic growth and improving the quality of education, African governments have set their sights on large building projects, many of them funded by foreign investments, especially by China.

The proposed East African Oil Pipeline, for example, which the Ugandan government says can help lift millions out of poverty, runs through Uganda’s Kidepo valley, Murchison Falls and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, threatening species and drawing criticism from climate campaigners.

The growth of urban populations and the building that goes with it, like new roads, electricity grids, gas pipes, ports and railways, have also added to the pressure on parks, conservationists said.

But they add that replacing wildlife with infrastructure is the wrong approach for economic growth.

“We have to have a future where wildlife is not separated from people,” said Sam Shaba, the program manager at the Honeyguide Foundation in Tanzania, an environmental non-profit organization.

When “people start to see that living with wildlife provides the answer to sustainable development ... that’s the game-changer,” said Shaba.

Most of Africa’s wildlife parks were created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by colonial regimes that fenced off the areas and ordered local people to stay out. But now conservationists are finding that a more inclusive approach to running the parks and seeking the expertise of Indigenous communities that live around the parks can help protect them, said Ademola Ajagbe, Africa regional managing director of The Nature Conservancy.

“The inhabitants of these areas are forcefully evicted or prevented from living there such as the Maasai (in Tanzania and Kenya), Twa and Mbutis (in central Africa) who for generations have lived with wildlife,” said Simon Counseill, an advisor with Survival International.

“Africa is depicted as a place of wildlife without people living there and this narrative needs to change,” he said.

“If we don’t pay attention to communities’ social needs, health, education and where they are getting water, we miss the key thing,” said John Kasaona the executive director of the Integrated Rural Development in Nature Conservation in Namibia.

The effects of worsening weather conditions in national parks due to climate change should also not be ignored, experts said.

A recent study conducted in Kruger National Park linked extreme weather events to the loss of plants and animals, unable cope with the drastic conditions and lack of water due to longer dry spells and hotter temperatures.

Drought has seriously threatened species like rhinos, elephants and lions as it reduces the amount of food available, said Philip Wandera, a former warden with the Kenya Wildlife Service who’s now range management lecturer at the Catholic University of East Africa.

More intensive management of parks and removing fences that prevent species from migrating to less drought-prone areas are important first steps to protecting wildlife, Wandera said.

He added that financial help to “support communities in and around national parks” would also help preserve them.