News from around the world

Passport cards proving popular in border states

Nearly 740,000 Americans have ordered passport cards, a new document being offered by the State Department to speed border crossings by U.S. citizens traveling to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Beginning in June 2009, travelers will be required to present documents proving both citizenship and identity when entering the U.S. through a land or sea border. For Americans who drive to Canada or Mexico or cruise regularly to the Caribbean, but who do not expect to fly abroad, the passport card is a cheaper, smaller, more portable alternative to a conventional passport book.

The card is especially popular with Americans who live in border states where it’s not unusual to drive back and forth to Canada or Mexico. Residents of four border states -- Texas, California, Michigan and New York -- lead the country in the number of residents holding passport cards, according to Rima J. Vydmantas, spokeswoman for the State Department’s Consular Affairs Bureau.

The passport card is the size of a credit card or driver’s license, and has a photo and identification information printed on it, like a driver’s license. It also contains a chip with a unique number that allows border officials to instantly retrieve your data from a government database.

It’s not valid for air travel.

Passport cards are good for 10 years and cost $45 ($35 for children under 16). Applications can be made at any passport-processing site. If you already have a passport but want the card anyway because of the convenient size or quick scanning, it’s only $20 and can be ordered by mail.

For details on how and where to get a passport card, visit https://www.travel.state.gov.

Processing time for applications for both passport books and passport cards are about three weeks for routine applications. Expedited service is not available for passport cards, but for passport books, expedited service takes about two weeks.

Disney opening American Idol Experience Feb. 14

An attraction inspired by the “American Idol” TV show offically opens at Disney’s Hollywood Studios Feb. 14.

Walt Disney World guests can register to audition in front of a Disney casting director for a chance to take part in the theme park show. Contestants who make the cut must then audition for a Disney producer. Those selected by producers will perform in front of an onstage panel of judges and an audience of park guests who vote on each show’s winners.

Performing guests with the highest votes compete in an end-of-day grand finale show at the attraction. The winner of that competition gets a guaranteed reservation, with no waiting in long lines, for a future regional audition for the real “American Idol” TV show.

Details -- including age restrictions and other eligibility requirements -- at https://www.disneyworld.com/idol.

Snow park opens in Atlanta’s Stone Mountain Park

Residents of Atlanta aren’t accustomed to snowy winters. But now anybody in the area who wants a day of snow play can head to Stone Mountain Park, which has opened its first “Snow Mountain Park,” with three football fields of snow, a 400-foot hill with 11 tubing runs, and a 30,000-square-foot play area.

The snow park opened Dec. 31 and is scheduled to remain open weekends through March 1.

Details at https://www.snowmountainpark.com.

Kids can make snowmen and snow angels, and there’s even a snowball-making zone, along with warming chalets and bonfires for roasting marshmallows and making s’mores.

The attraction uses water from Stone Mountain Lake that is filtered and then turned into snow using the same types of snowmaking machines that ski resorts use. As the snow melts, it drains back to Stone Mountain Lake. The park’s Web site says that it is buying green energy credits to power the process. Many ski resorts have also tried to make their enterprises greener by buying energy from renewable resources like wind power.

Tickets are $25 and are for timed entry. Advance reservations are recommended, as is snow gear like boots, gloves and hats. The park sells some outerwear at a store on site.

New York luxury hotels offering third night free

Nine luxury hotels in New York City are offering a third night’s stay free after you book and pay for two consecutive nights between Jan. 9 and Feb. 27.

Details of the program are at https://www.nycgo.com/thirdnight.

The luxury hotels participating in the program this winter are Jumeirah Essex House, Loews Regency, the London NYC, the Sherry-Netherland Hotel, Trump International Hotel & Tower, Waldorf Towers, The Plaza Hotel, The New York Palace and the Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel.

Europe snowstorm forces Eiffel Tower closure

A winter storm brought blankets of snow across Europe on Monday, forcing the closure of an icy Eiffel Tower in Paris and causing flight cancellations.

Up to four inches (10 centimeters) of snow was recorded in parts of France, the national weather service said. Most areas, including Paris, got around half that amount.

French authorities issued traffic alerts in around 30 regions because of icy roads.

The Eiffel Tower, one of Paris’ main tourist attractions, was closed because of slippery conditions.

“We can’t put down salt because it’s metallic,” Eiffel Tower press officer Isabelle Esnous said. “We can’t use sand either ... because it risks getting into the elevator (cogs).”

The cold, she said, is no problem, but snow can be dangerous.

A dozen flights were canceled at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, officials said. The Paris airport authority said bad weather in other parts of Europe contributed to the cancellations.

Workers had been deployed since midnight Sunday to clear runways at Charles de Gaulle and the smaller Orly airport.

In Germany, heavy snowfall snarled road traffic and flight delays and cancellations at the country’s international airports.

Duesseldorf International Airport said no flights were allowed in or out between 6-9 a.m. (0500-0800 GMT) Monday because clearing crews were unable to keep up with the snow.

More than 30 flights were canceled because of the bad weather, airport spokesman Christian Witt said. Up to four inches (10 centimeters) of snow was reported in Duesseldorf and around six inches (16 centimeters) in Potsdam, just outside Berlin.

Flights from Frankfurt International Airport were delayed as much as an hour but none had to be canceled.

Traffic stopped for hours on many of Germany’s autobahns as snowplows struggled to clear the roads amid heavy post-holiday traffic.

Germany’s National Weather Service is forecasting subzero temperatures for the coming days.

Snow also fell across Britain. Children built snowmen in parts of England, including Cambridge.