Travel in Syria

You probably saw (or experienced) the airport protests and delays this weekend following President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban nationals traveling to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority nations. But what do the American people think of the new travel measure?

Editor’s Note: For the latest version of this story, see The World’s Most and Least Expensive Cities, Ranked.

Looking for the best cities to live in or retire abroad? The world’s most livable city is once again Vienna, Austria, according to The Economist’s Intelligence Unit’s annual Most Livable Cities ranking.

Paris is the world's most visited city. It draws in a barely comprehensible 30 million travellers each year – and its monuments, museums and galleries are some of Europe's most instantly recognisable. You could spend weeks here and not see them all. But what if you want to see an alternative Paris, a Paris off the beaten track?

One of the world’s top adventure spots, tourists to Jordan tend to zip right through Amman and head straight to the mountains, Petra, or the fabulous burnt-orange desert in the south. But Jordan’s capital is well-worth devoting a long weekend to. It’s a vibrant, buzzing place to spend a few days, browsing through the fashionable city-centre boutiques, filling up on falafel and listening to an Ammani rock band bring the house down in a dry music venue.

Turkey is the most accessible of the Middle Eastern nations. A natural land bridge, it connects the eastern part of Europe to the Caucasus, and the viridian Black Sea coast to the arid Arab peninsula. With Emirates, Etihad and most major airlines serving flights to Istanbul, you can easily fly from Europe, the United States and Asia.

Understandably, most of us are closely following the effects of coronavirus at home: the daily news keeps our minds directed to what’s happening close to us. But cast your mind back two months, before the coronavirus hit Italy, and you’ll recall that back then, much of the media’s attention was focused on the Middle East – specifically, Iran, which was the first country outside China to suffer a huge number of cases of coronavirus.

With the world in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic, you’re sure to have heard plenty of advice on how to protect yourself. Face masks, self isolation, social distancing… these are all important, but one of the most vital tips is also one of the most basic: wash your hands regularly. It may have taken something of a back seat in recent government communications, but cast your mind back to March, and you’ll no doubt remember hearing the advice that you should wash your hands for as long as it takes to sing Happy Birthday – twice. Recent studies have suggested that regular hand washing could help to curb a pandemic by nearly seventy percent – but also that about thirty percent of people don’t wash their hands after using the toilet. In airports, it’s thought that only twenty percent of people have clean hands. Perhaps it’s no surprise that coronavirus spread so quickly.

The East London borough of Hackney is booming, particularly with regard to new restaurants, cafés, bars and speciality delis. Alongside long-established Vietnamese and Turkish eateries you’ll now find a Swedish corner café, a Ghanaian pop-up and even a farmyard bistro . A funky restaurant aesthetic has emerged, characterized by bare bulbs, monastic wooden benches and fresh local ingredients artfully displayed. This is a guide to eating in the area, which will take you on a trail from old classics to new independent restaurants to some alternative choices that are well off the beaten track.