Entertainment

By Maureen O’Hare, CNN (CNN) — In travel news this week: Holiday journeys get underway despite extreme weather and strike action; a Croatian man has turned his home into a winter theme park; plus what it’s like to live on Christmas Island. Destination inspiration It’s Christmas every day on Christmas Island, the 52-square-mile jungle paradise

By Heather Chen and Yoonjung Seo, CNN Seoul, South Korea (CNN) — A barren tank with concrete walls and artificial rocks, housed on the lower floors of a South Korean mega mall, has been home to a female beluga whale for close to a decade. The whale was believed to be around two years old

By AJ Willingham, CNN (CNN) — Amazon’s “recommended” algorithm is a powerful and mysterious force. One moment, it’s showing you Korean face moisturizers and affordable home office decor, and the next, it coughs up a handsome gay merman Christmas tree ornament with a “Black Lives Matter” sign, and your life is changed forever. A single

By Forrest Brown, CNN (CNN) — It’s enough to give anyone already on edge about how to handle possible flight delays and cancellations yet another reason to pop an antacid or two: the prospect of delayed, lost or damaged baggage. The concern is valid, especially during rough winter weather and situations such as the grounding

By Amy Cassidy and Marnie Hunter, CNN (CNN) — A Norwegian cruise ship in the North Sea was disabled Thursday after it lost power. Denmark’s maritime authorities told CNN on Friday that the ship, MS Maud, lost its ability to navigate after strong winds smashed glass windows, allowing water to get in and causing a

By Marnie Hunter, CNN (CNN) — After a rainy cruise to the Bahamas, some Carnival Sunshine passengers returned to port in Charleston, South Carolina, on Monday to a very unpleasant surprise: flooded cars. “It was left up to us to find out that our cars wouldn’t start and were totally destroyed,” said passenger Stephanie Royal,

By Francesca Street, CNN (CNN) — When Cathy Poyser heard the announcement that her flight was delayed, her heart sank. It was Christmas Eve, 1975. LAX Airport. Cathy, who’d moved to Los Angeles earlier that year, was desperate to get back to her hometown of Yakima, Washington. Cathy had left Washington for California filled with

By Jack Guy and Christy Choi, CNN London (CNN) — Two men were arrested in London this weekend, suspected of stealing a new Banksy art installation on the very same day that it was unveiled. The work, featuring three drones overlaid on a traffic sign in Peckham, South London, had been confirmed as a new

By Victoria Woodcock, CNN London, UK (CNN) — In central London, moments away from the crush of Christmas shoppers on a busy street, a portal to a mystical forest has appeared. It takes you into Pace Gallery and upon stepping inside, visitors are greeted by the sound of birdsong, and surrounded by a series of

By Oscar Holland, CNN (CNN) — Advances in laser scanning have transformed how museums research and conserve paintings by mapping the textures, colors and dimensions of their surfaces in minute detail. Now, an innovative Austrian printmaking company is using the technology — and the rich data it produces — to offer art enthusiasts the chance

By Farida Zeynalova, CNN (CNN) — For some, home is where the heart is. In Azerbaijan, however, the saying goes, “xalçam harada, yurdum orada,” meaning “wherever my carpet is, that’s where I live.” Azerbaijan’s love affair with carpets is an inextricable one — a much-revered art form that’s been woven into its cultural DNA since

By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN New York (CNN) — It’s the peak of holiday travel season. You paid $189 for a yearly Clear membership to breeze through airport security and cut to the front of the TSA line. But the flyers who paid a fraction of the price for a TSA PreCheck membership ($78 for five