Interviews tips

What are the best cities in the world? Time Out has just released its latest report of the world’s 20 best cities, which is based on the Time Out Index, created from a survey of more than 20,000 city dwellers around the world, along with its own network of editors.

A Southwest Airlines passenger described enduring what felt like "Chinese water torture" during a domestic flight as she sat under a constant drip of an unidentified liquid.

The CTO State of the Tourism Industry Conference (SOTIC) is the Caribbean’s premier forum for the presentation and exploration of the major issues impacting the development of the sector in the region.  Tourism continues to cement its position as the main driver of economies across the region, and the SOTIC gathers regional and international experts, thought leaders, decision-makers and influencers to focus on the next steps needed to be taken for the region to remain competitive and grow sustainably.

The U.S. aims to increase visa interview appointments for Indian students by 30 percent this summer, said U.S. Consul General Mike Hankey during his recent visit to the country. “Last year, we sent more than 1.25 lakh Indian students to the U.S., setting a new record for Indian students going to the U.S. in a year and establishing India as the leading country of sending students. This year we are trying to increase that number (of students) further,” he told news agency Press Trust of India. In another development, the U.S. visitor visa wait times in India dropped by 50 percent — from an average of 669 days in mid-March to 337 days in early April — according to the U.S. Travel Association. The industry lobby group attributed the wait time reduction to the U.S. State Department’s initiatives this year to reduce the visa backlog, such as bringing processing staff in on weekends, making overseas embassies available to Indian nationals in other countries and hiring more staff. Applicants in India had an especially absurd wait time. In January, for example, they had to wait 999 days for an interview at the Mumbai embassy. 

Flying to the U.S. from abroad? Get ready for potentially longer check-in times and new security measures. Effective this week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will increase scrutiny on electronic devices travelers bring onboard.