| Authorities cancel flights as haze shrouds Beijing and Five lessons from living in Paris |
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Thick haze shrouding Beijing forced authorities to cancel flights and close expressways, state media reported Monday.The Beijing Capital International Airport canceled more than 200 incoming and outgoing flights and delayed more than 125 others Monday afternoon, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.The state-run China Daily newspaper, citing Beijing's weather officials, said melting snow made the air wet and caused heavy fog that "crippled traffic, delayed flights and created obstacles in the highways in many places of North China since Saturday."Forecasters predict winds from a cold front moving into central and east China Tuesday will "blow the fog away," the newspaper said.Last month, when many official reports in Chinese state-run media referred to the air as being filled with "fog," the government acknowledged that the haze was due to smog. [Read the full article] (CNN) -- Muggles will have another opportunity to slip into Harry Potter's magical world at a new Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios Hollywood.Universal Parks CEO Tom Williams promises the planned Southern California attraction will be "every bit as spectacular" as the first Harry Potter park, which opened in 2010 at Universal Orlando in Florida. That successful Harry Potter theme park will be significantly expanded, Williams also announced Tuesday.Hogwarts Castle, which houses the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry featured in the "Harry Potter" series, will be the Hollywood park's centerpiece, as it is in Orlando. Details on the timing of the new park and expansion have not been released."It's a huge win for the Los Angeles tourism industry," Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau spokeswoman Beth Brett wrote in an e-mail."The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. [Read the full article] Los Angeles (CNN) -- An American Airlines pilot booted Alec Baldwin off a flight Tuesday because the actor refused to turn off his cell phone after the plane's doors were closed for departure, the airline said Wednesday."The passenger was extremely rude to the crew, calling them inappropriate names and using offensive language," the company said in a statement posted on its Facebook page."He loves WWF so much that he was willing to leave a plane for it, but he has already boarded another AA flight," spokesman Matthew Hiltzik said in an e-mail to CNN on Tuesday afternoon.After Baldwin refused to turn off his cell phone, with the seat belt light on for departure, he walked into the toilet with his phone, the airline said."He slammed the lavatory door so hard, the cockpit crew heard it and became alarmed, even with the cockpit door closed and locked," the airline said. [Read the full article] 
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