(CNN) — The Chinese government on Monday, September 19, issued draft regulations that aim to bolster tourism along its border and make it easier for some foreigners to enter China.

According to a draft policy document released by China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Monday, tour groups organized by travel agencies in China’s border areas will be able to choose their port of entry and exit “flexibly” — however, further details on locations and dates weren’t provided.

China has shut its borders to foreign tourists since the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020, only allowing certain groups of foreign nationals to enter the country, such as those holding valid visas.

In recent weeks, the Chinese government has significantly tightened Covid restrictions to contain the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant. In September, multiple megacities were placed in full or partial lockdowns.

Under the new draft policy, foreign tourists will

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a joint news conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Moscow, Russia August 31, 2022. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Pool

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UNITED NATIONS, Sept 13 (Reuters) – The United States has given Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov a visa to travel to New York for the United Nations’ annual gathering of world leaders next week with half the delegation Moscow requested, a Russian diplomatic source said on Tuesday.

Moscow had asked Washington for 56 visas, according to a Sept. 2 letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia. The Russian diplomatic source said on Tuesday the United States had approved 24 visas.

Nebenzia had also noted in his letter that the flight crew for Lavrov’s plane had not received visas. It was not immediately clear if Washington had granted visas for the Russian flight

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We’d be remiss to exclude New Hampshire’s White Mountains — particularly for hiking enthusiasts — even if it is one of the region’s best-known destinations for fall trips.

For easy access to hikes in Franconia Notch State Park, Haley Hamblin, a Washington Post photo editor from the region, recommends staying at an Airbnb in the town of Franconia, at the base of the mountains. The park has hikes for different skill levels, from shorter, kid-friendly trails to multiday backpacking routes. Plus, “it’s still very close to the rest of the Presidential range and easy to hop onto the famous Kancamagus highway,” Hamblin says.

Her other suggestion is Littleton, a town 20 minutes from hikes with a lovely downtown for dining and shopping. Whichever you pick, “keep in mind we get our first snow around Halloween most years, so people should be prepared for cold weather,” Hamblin says.

Another option

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(CNN) — Their daughter Mia was just three years old when Canadian couple Edith Lemay and Sebastien Pelletier first noticed that she was having vision problems.

A few years after they first took her to see a specialist, Mia, the oldest of their four children, was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic condition that causes a loss or decline in vision over time.

By this point, Lemay and Pelletier, who’ve been married for 12 years, had noticed that two of their sons, Colin, now seven, and Laurent, now five, were experiencing the same symptoms.

Their fears were confirmed when in 2019 the boys were diagnosed with the same genetic disorder; their other son Leo, now nine, was given the all clear.

“There’s nothing you can really do,” says Lemay, explaining that there is currently no cure or effective treatment to slow down the progression of retinitis pigmentosa.

“We don’t

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Visited’s new list feature has allowed the travel app to publish a report highlighting the tourism industry in UAE

Top Travel App Visited

Visited is a popular travel app, which allows users to map their travel journeys, see how many famous places they have been to and get inspired by discovering new destinations.

Visited is a popular travel app, which allows users to map their travel journeys, see how many famous places they have been to and get inspired by discovering new destinations.

TORONTO, Sept. 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — According to the Visited travel app, UAE is currently ranked as the 27th most popular country to visit among global international travelers. The Visited travel app has over 1 million users across the globe and offers a unique glance into who visits the Emirates and what they do when they are there. The data is based on the user’s self-reported information on where they have been, wish to travel to and what places/experiences they had while there.

Visited, a travel app released by Arriving In High Heels, allows users

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An expectant Louisiana woman who was carrying a skull-less fetus that would die within a short time from birth ultimately traveled about 1,400 miles to New York City to terminate her pregnancy after her local hospital denied her an abortion amid uncertainty over the procedure’s legality.

Nancy Davis, 36, told the Guardian that she had her pregnancy terminated on September 1 after traveling from her home town of Baton Rouge to a clinic in Manhattan whose staff had agreed to complete the procedure.

Davis’s trek was necessary because Louisiana has outlawed abortion with very few exceptions after the US supreme court’s decision in June to eliminate federal abortion rights which were established by its 1973 Roe v Wade ruling. New York is among the states where abortion remains legal.

Davis was about 10 weeks pregnant in late July when an ultrasound at Woman’s hospital in Baton Rouge – Louisiana’s capital

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NEW YORK (WABC) — The New York City Office of Emergency Management has issued a travel advisory for Monday afternoon into Tuesday due to severe weather.

Keep your umbrella handy through the day and into Tuesday evening as heavy downpours push through the region.

RELATED: Get the latest AccuWeather forecast.

The MTA announced it is taking precautions for heavy rain and the risk of flooding by sending crews to clear drains, prepare equipment and be strategically positioned to quickly respond to flooding or other weather challenges.

For the subway, New York City Transit will strategically pre-position weather-response teams, including track and signals specialists, at key locations.

Crews will prepare and fuel two trains capable of high-capacity pumping, two trains designed for debris clean-up, and additional emergency trucks and emergency response equipment including track pumps and chainsaws.

To reduce the likelihood of flooding and respond to any instances of flooding that

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DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER: I recently rented a condo in Florida through Homes & Villas by Marriott. I used my Marriott Bonvoy points to make the reservation.

Christopher Elliott, the Travel Troubleshooter...
Christopher Elliott, the Travel Troubleshooter

When I arrived, I discovered the unit was uninhabitable. The condo smelled of mold and mildew, and the furniture was threadbare and filthy. I have difficulty breathing.

I left shortly after arriving and had to go to a hotel for the night. I tried to contact the vacation rental company numerous times, before I left and after I checked out. I also asked Marriott for help, but I never heard back from the vacation rental company.

I would like my points refunded. But Marriott is deferring to another company that manages its vacation rentals and will not give me my points. Can you help?

— Chris Skaggs, Canton, Michigan

ANSWER: Marriott’s vacation rental site promises its homes are “professionally

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(CNN) — Summer air travel has been trying, to put it mildly. Hellacious, many travelers would say.

About 55,000 flights have been canceled in the US since the Friday before Memorial Day, according to data from flight tracking site FlightAware, and nearly a quarter of US flights have been delayed this summer.

A “huge problem with staffing shortages” has plagued air travel this season and all of 2022 so far, said Kathleen Bangs, a former airline pilot and a spokesperson for FlightAware.

Bangs is inclined to give the airlines the benefit of the doubt in their efforts to ramp up pre-pandemic flight schedules with 2022 staffing challenges.

“I think they truly thought they would have enough employees return, and hire enough new ones, to meet the demand, but as we’ve all seen, they did not,” Bangs said.

Weather and air traffic controller staffing issues have added to the summer disruptions.

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  • Whenever my five-person family travels, we try to save as much money as possible on flights.
  • I use the Google Flights “explore” feature to browse deals for a variety of dates and destinations.
  • Some airlines also offer cheaper rates at airport ticket counters than they do online.

Since my family of five plans on taking 22 trips this year, we have to stick to our budget.

One of the ways we save money is by finding great flight deals, so I’ve developed some tried-and-true strategies to make sure we book the least expensive fares possible.

Here’s how I found the most affordable flight options.

Try searching for deals on Google Flights

I’ve found almost all of our air-travel deals using Google Flights. The online flight-booking service is such a simple tool, but it allows us to find some great ticket prices.

Thanks to inexpensive rates we

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