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China’s best new outdoor attractions | CNN

Published

2 years ago

March 19, 2023

Press Room

China’s best new outdoor attractions | CNN

CNN
—

With regards to vacationer sights, quite a bit has occurred in China over the previous couple of years.

From cruises alongside the world’s longest canal to a post-earthquake fairyland, varied out of doors sights have opened or undergone dramatic makeovers, giving vacationers extra causes than ever to go to China.

Now that the nation has introduced it’s reopening its borders to overseas vacationers and resumed issuing vacationer visas, worldwide guests can lastly take a look at a few of these widespread new choices which have been successful the hearts of home vacationers in the course of the pandemic.

Listed here are a number of of our favorites.

Stretching 1,782 kilometers (1,107 miles) – about 9 occasions the size of the Suez Canal, China’s Grand Canal is the world’s longest human-made river.

Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Web site in 2014, the Grand Canal – often known as Jing-Hold Canal – runs from Beijing within the north to Hangzhou within the south and connects to a number of waterways, together with the Yellow River and the Yangtze River.

It was constructed in sections over 2,500 years in the past and unified all through the centuries.

Within the final century, some sections dried out or had been overrun by air pollution. Nonetheless, in 2022, a authorities initiative noticed your entire Grand Canal cleaned up and reconnected.

Among the many prime locations to expertise it’s Cangzhou, a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Beijing. The commercial port metropolis has upgraded the vacationer choices alongside its part of the canal, which now options 15 cruise ships, 12 vacationer piers and 6 new bridges.

Nanjing's Garden Expo Park Scenic Spot showcases the region's famous Jiangsu-style gardens.

Jiangsu province, on China’s jap coast, is known for its exquisitely designed Chinese language gardens that date again greater than 2,000 years.

Right now, the custom continues however with a singular twist. In 2021, Nanjing, the province’s capital metropolis, remodeled an deserted quarry into the Jiangsu Backyard Expo Park.

The three.45-square-kilometer area is residence to stunning, traditional Jiangsu-style gardens and different sights, together with a water botanical backyard, a theater and a pedestrian procuring avenue.

Among the many highlights is Suzhou Backyard, which was impressed by the Canglang Pavilion – a UNESCO World Heritage Web site in close by Suzhou.

All of the constructions contained in the Suzhou Backyard are made from stable wooden jointed by mortise and tenon joints (two items of wooden are locked collectively with out nails). In truth, it’s mentioned not a single nail has been used within the backyard.

Universal Beijing Resort is the fifth and largest Universal Studios theme park in the world.

Opened in September 2021, the 169-hectare Common Beijing Resort is the world’s fifth and largest Common Studios theme park.

There are seven themed lands providing dozens of reveals and rides, lots of them open air: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter; Transformers Metrobase; Hollywood; WaterWorld; Minion Land; Jurassic World Isla Nubla; and King Fu Panda Land of Awesomeness.

It additionally has the world’s first Common-themed lodging – the Common Studios Grand Lodge – and NUO Resort Lodge, a Qing Dynasty-themed resort lodge.

Neighboring northern China’s Interior Mongolia area, the semi-arid Ningxia Hui Autonomous Area experiences little rainfall and enjoys round 300 days of clear skies yearly, making it among the best locations to take pleasure in China’s dramatic desert landscapes and have interaction in some critical stargazing.

The area has capitalized on this energy in recent times and is witnessing a tourism enhance.

The annual China (Ningxia) Starry Sky Tourism Convention first kicked off in 2021, combining stargazing with a sequence of occasions, together with a desert digital music competition and an excessive automotive race.

One of many prime methods to expertise Ningxia is by checking into the Desert Star Lodge in Ningxia’s Zhongwei Metropolis.

Positioned in the course of Shapotou District, a scenic tourism space, the lodge options 176 rooms in the course of the desert. Choices embody desert-view balcony rooms and tent-style huts for many who fancy a little bit of glamping motion.

The complicated provides indoor and out of doors eating choices, a swimming pool, an astronomy-themed theater and family-friendly sand actions.

The lodge solely has an official WeChat account, however vacationers may also guide via varied lodge platforms or native journey businesses. Room charges begin from round RMB2300, or $320 per evening.

Coming soon: Rissai Valley, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve.

In 2017, a strong and lethal earthquake struck Jiuzhaigou County in China’s southwestern Sichuan Province, leaving the area devastated.

Lately, the federal government and the vacationer trade have been working exhausting to revive the realm, together with the famed Jiuzhaigou Nationwide Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Web site.

The scenic space absolutely reopened in September 2021 and now provides 12 upgraded sights. These embody the Shenxian Chi (Fairy Ponds), which function terraced white and pale blue travertine swimming pools, and the Dalu Historic Village, which is over 1,000 years previous.

There’s additionally the brand new Jiawuhai Big Panda Conservation and Analysis Park. 4 large pandas are cared for inside the middle, whereas the realm surrounding it’s residence to round 30 wild pandas.

The place to remain? Luxurious seekers will need to verify into China’s first Ritz-Carlton Reserve, which is able to open within the space later this 12 months.

Some quarter-hour from the Jiuzhaigou Nationwide Park, the 87-villa Rissai Valley, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, will function a 2,500 square-meter spa in addition to eating and occasion areas with out of doors seating overlooking the mountains.

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Ex-Disney Worker Who Hacked Menus Gets 3 Years in Prison

Published

15 hours ago

April 27, 2025

Press Room

Ex-Disney Worker Who Hacked Menus Gets 3 Years in Prison

A former employee of Walt Disney World who hacked into menus used by its restaurants and edited them — changing prices, adding profanity and altering listed allergens — was sentenced to three years in prison by a federal judge in Florida this week.

None of the changes, including falsified information about food allergens that could have been harmful to visitors, ever appeared before the public, according to court records. The menu alterations were caught and court records show that none of the changes ever reached the printing stage.

The former employee, Michael Scheuer of Winter Garden, Fla., was sentenced on Wednesday in federal court in Orlando, Fla., after pleading guilty in January to one count of computer fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Mr. Scheuer, 40, was ordered to pay restitution of about $620,000 to Disney and $70,000 to the unidentified software company that provides Disney with its menu creation program.

While court documents do not mention Disney World, menus that were entered into evidence in Mr. Scheuer’s case are from the hundreds of restaurants at Walt Disney World in Orlando.

Disney World representatives did not respond to messages seeking comment.

In early June 2024, Mr. Scheuer had returned from paternity leave, court documents show. A few days later, he had an argument with a supervisor about menu creation, according to the documents, and he was told that he would be suspended.

Instead, he was fired for unspecified misconduct, the documents state.

An investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation later revealed that, beginning around that time and over approximately the next three months, there were multiple hacks into servers that hosted the menu creation program.

Those changes included price cuts or hikes of a few dollars, profanities and altering allergens in certain items.

On a drink called the “Giddy-Up” — a blend of vodka, lemonade and iced tea — he lowered the price by $2, according to court records, and took two ounces off a 10-ounce filet mignon. In another instance, “shellfish” was changed to “hellfish.”

On a couple of menus, either the prices or the descriptions of the items disappeared.

He changed a wine region — Golden, Colo. — to the location of a mass shooting, Aurora, Colo. He also edited “Infamous Goose” — high-quality imported wine from New Zealand — to “Infamous Moose.”

More crucially, Mr. Scheuer edited certain menu items, falsely showing that they were safe for people with allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish and milk, according to his plea agreement.

Prosecutors said “the discreet way in which these changes were made was likely by design, specifically to avoid detection.”

But Mr. Scheuer’s lawyer, David Haas, said that his client had only been trying to get the attention of Disney so that it would respond to him.

“He knew the menu changes would be identified in Disney’s extensive menu review process,” Mr. Haas said in a court document.

Disney had indeed noticed, and it had contacted the F.B.I., identifying Mr. Scheuer as a possible suspect. In September, the F.B.I. executed a search warrant at Mr. Scheuer’s home and seized several electronic devices.

The criminal complaint also shows that Mr. Scheuer blocked 14 Disney employees from their company accounts through denial-of-service attacks. Some of the targeted workers were former colleagues involved in his firing, according to court records.

On one occasion, Mr. Scheuer drove to the home of one of the targeted employees shortly before 11 p.m., walked to the front door and gave a thumbs-up to the Ring doorbell camera before leaving, court records show.

Gregory W. Kehoe, the interim U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, said that Mr. Scheuer’s actions were at least partly attributable to a mental health episode. Prosecutors asked for a 70-month sentence.

Mr. Haas said in an interview on Friday that “Mr. Scheuer remains remorseful and apologetic to his former co-workers,” adding that he was grateful to the judge for imposing only a 36-month sentence.

Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.

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Republicans plan to scrap US audit regulator

Published

18 hours ago

April 26, 2025

Press Room

Republicans plan to scrap US audit regulator

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Republican lawmakers are planning to shut down the US audit regulator, which was founded in the wake of the Enron scandal more than two decades ago, as part of a reform package designed to deliver Donald Trump’s deregulatory agenda.

The proposal to eliminate the independent Public Company Accounting Oversight Board was published late on Friday by the leadership of the House Committee on Financial Services, for inclusion in the giant tax and spending bill being considered by Congress.

Under the draft legislation, a levy on listed companies and broker-dealers that funds the PCAOB would be scrapped and the organisation’s responsibilities would be folded into the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The PCAOB was set up to oversee audit standards and conduct regular inspections of firms that audit US public companies after the collapse of Enron in 2001 exposed shortcomings in the previous self-regulatory regime.

Accounting firms have chafed against the activist leadership of chair Erica Williams, under whom the agency imposed tough new standards and extracted record fines in enforcement actions.

Any effort to eliminate the agency is likely to meet resistance from Democrats and may not receive the full endorsement of audit firms.

The Center for Audit Quality, which represents the largest firms, has called for the agency to be more responsive to accounting firms, but has previously stopped short of calling for its elimination.

“Oversight models may evolve, but what should not change is the profession’s accountability to the capital markets and the need for a system that supports maintaining high standards of audit quality,” CAQ chief executive Julie Bell Lindsay said on Saturday.

While PCAOB employees could be given the chance to transfer their roles to the SEC, they would in many cases have to take pay cuts as the organisation is not subject to government pay scales.

Critics have argued that such a move would substantially disrupt the audit-firm inspection regime.

But Christina Ho, a PCAOB board member who has opposed several of Williams’s signature initiatives, said that SEC salaries could be higher than those in many government agencies. “The SEC has not had difficulty attracting and retaining talent,” she said.

The committee’s draft legislation also scraps any unallocated funds under a $1bn green retrofitting programme for housing brought under the Inflation Reduction Act, Joe Biden’s landmark climate legislation, and slashes the budget of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

It faces procedural hurdles, however. The full House Committee on Financial Services will consider the legislation in the coming days, but whether it will be included in the tax and spending bill, known as a reconciliation bill, will depend on negotiations within the Republican leadership in the House and Senate and whether it is deemed a budgetary measure.

Sandy Peters, head of global advocacy at the CFA Institute, a professional body for investors, said the creation of the PCAOB led to dramatic improvements in audit quality.

“The largest and most efficient capital markets need a strong, apolitical and independent audit regulator and accounting standard setter,” she said. “If capital formation is a priority for the administration, this disrupts that.”

News

Pope Francis’ funeral attendees were required to wear black, but Trump wore blue: ’No respect’ | Today News

Published

19 hours ago

April 26, 2025

Press Room

Pope Francis’ funeral attendees were required to wear black, but Trump wore blue: ’No respect’ | Today News

The dress code for Pope Francis’s funeral required men to wear a dark suit with a black tie and a black button on the left lapel, while women were asked to wear a long black dress, gloves, and a veil. The attire protocol is now the subject of chatter on social media, with Trump being accused of ditching the dress code by wearing blue, while First Lady Melania’s outfit – an all-black ensemble accentuated by a dramatic veil – was compared to the ‘hijab’.

Melania Trump’s Outfit Sparks Comparison to Hijab

A comment from Iranian academic Foad Izadi went viral after he shared a photo of Melania in her mourning outfit, saying that the hijab across the world stands for modesty, chastity, and simplicity. “In a world obsessed with appearances, hijab quietly proclaims purity, dignity, and humility. Today, at the Pope’s funeral, Melania Trump stood — a silent witness to these timeless values,” one person wrote, sharing Izadi’s post.

Read | Pope Francis’ coffin sealed after some 250,000 mourners pay their respects; final pictures of private ceremony emerge

Criticism Over Donald Trump’s Choice of Attire

Trump’s blue suit and blue tie also caught the attention of netizens – for the wrong reasons – as commentators claimed his choice of attire was ‘disrespectful’ and made him ‘stand out’.

“Just watching the Pope’s funeral. Trump is the only one not wearing a dark suit. No respect,” one person wrote on social media. “President Trump at Pope Francis’ funeral…the only one in a blue suit!!” another commented.

“Trump can’t even be bothered to wear a black suit to the Pope’s funeral! And not capable to sit up straight in his chair! Put to shame by the rest of the worlds royalty and leaders!,” a user wrote.

Former President Joe Biden opted for a blue tie at the service as well, pairing it with a dark black suit instead of the traditional black tie.

Meanwhile, President Zelensky skipped the tie altogether, arriving in an all-black ensemble featuring a utility-style jacket in place of a classic suit jacket.

In pics | Not Trump, this person sat next to Zelensky at Pope Francis’ funeral; Prince William, Biden, and more attend

Other Dignitaries and the Traditional Mantilla

Melania wasn’t alone in wearing a traditional liturgical mantilla, with Jill Biden, Queen Letizia, Princess Charlene of Monaco, Queen Rania of Jordan, Queen Mathilde of Belgium, Queen Mary of Denmark, Queen Silvia of Sweden, and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway all donning gothic veils.

Several female guests, including Brigitte Macron, Olena Zelenska, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, opted for stylish black suits instead of dresses at the funeral.

The Role of Fashion in Religious Ceremonies

It might seem disrespectful to focus on fashion on a day like this, but senior clerics have previously shared that clothing has its own part to play in religion.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, told Metro:

“The Church and the Catholic imagination are all about three things: truth, goodness and beauty. That’s why we’re into things such as art, culture, music, literature and, yes, even fashion.”

Why Didn’t Everyone Wear Black to the Pope’s Funeral?

Catholic clerics had their own dress code for the funeral, which many people watching at home would have noticed.

Some wore especially striking outfits, with different members of the Church dressed in red, white, and purple, and decorated with gold and jewels.

To some, the devout might have appeared as though they had stepped straight out of the 2018 Met Gala, but for Catholics, the attire was perfectly traditional.