Papua-New-Guinea  : Auction - Blog - Books - News - Pictures - Video - Web








Take the 'Where Am I?' Tour
Times staff writer Chris Reynolds shares photos of -- and clues about -- places he's been in 2007. And trust us, it's not where you think. See how many you get right. Sure, the calendar says it's late December, but it's never really the holiday season until somebody hauls out a tiresome travel slide show. And so we bring you the 2007 "Where Am I?" Tour.

Calif. museum hosts China's famous terra cotta warriors (AP)
AP - More than a dozen Chinese terra cotta warriors crafted more than 2,000 years ago to protect their emperor in the afterlife have arrived in the United States with a very different mission: cultural ambassadors.

Error temporarily eliminates fuel charge on United (AP)
AP - Passengers booking flights on United Airlines got a one-day reprieve from paying the carrier's fast-rising fuel surcharge due to what United says was an error.

Tours of Hanford nuclear waste site draw interest (AP)
AP - In a cramped control room, a bright yellow sticker cautions workers about critical radiation alarms. Now a novelty stuck on a wall between dials that haven't spun in decades, the sign hints at the enormity of the plant's mission.

Spoleto, Italy: Festival of the two Worlds
From 27 June 27th to July 13th 2008 Plan your trip with the travelogues on TheTravelzine.In the green heart of Umbria, dominated by a beautiful "Rocca" Castle, the historical town of Spoleto is at once a throwback to medieval times and, during the Festival dei Due Mondi, a host to some of the more avant-garde musical and dance companies. The Spoleto Festival 2008, with his director Francis Menotti, is nowadays a worldwide attraction that gives an international image to the town and is one of the most important cultural happenings in Europe. The festival was first started in 1958 with the intention of bringing together the old and new worlds of Europe and America. It is a unique and inimitable fusion of art and urban spaces, of art and landscape, of art and the social fabric. Combined with the quality of the artistic offerings, this provides the original formula that has drawn a passionate and ever-growing international audience. The Festival begins with an inaugural concert on the Piazza Duomo outside the cathedral. A prelude concert and several opera performances are held in one of the town's lovely theatres. Concerts, meetings, exhibitions, dance performances, cinema screenings and a host of classical music performances fill more than two weeks, with a daily series of midday concerts. The Festival unites the arts with the common language of contemporary relevance and intense emotional impact.