Three decks of 500-year-old hand-painted European playing cards from the Middle Ages are on display at an exhibition in New York. Two of the decks of cards were made in Germany and |the other in the Burgundian Netherlands. The cards are being shown in “The World in Play: Luxury Cards 1430-1540”, an exhibition at |The Cloisters until April 17. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, of which The Cloisters is the branch dedicated to art and architecture of medieval Europe, said the cards on display had never been used for playing, noting that they are in too good a condition for that to have happened. – DPA

Investing in the future

Singapore remains at the top of Myanmar’s hotel industry investor list with investments in 21 hotel projects in the country in 2015. Vietnam with US$440 million and Thailand with more than US$340 million are the next two top investors. Asian countries contributed the largest share of investments with US$2.6 billion, followed by the UK, Luxembourg and the UAE with US$17 million. Last year’s new foreign hotel projects included the 21 from Singapore, one from Vietnam, 10 from Thailand, four from Hong Kong, three each from Japan and Malaysia, one from South Korea, three from the UK and one each from Luxembourg and the UAE. Between 2011 and 2015, the hotels and tourism sector was the fourth largest magnet for foreign investment in Myanmar – Eleven Media/ANN

Shandong Airlines, a subsidiary of the Chinese government-owned Air China, has started direct flights from New Delhi to Kunming in Yunnan province, becoming the first Chinese carrier to connect the cities. Up until now, passengers from North India to Kunming had to transit in Kolkata. Shandong Airlines is operating four flights a week from Delhi to Kunming on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays with convenient timings and attractive fares. – The Statesman/ANN

Bridging the gap

Members of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce are urging the West Bengal state government to start a daily flight service between Nepal and Kolkata that would help to increase the bilateral trade and tourism between the two countries. The state is just a short distance to Nepal and several Nepali students study in the city. A direct flight would help to increase the people-to-people contact and would also contribute immensely to tourism, Rajesh Kazi Shrestha, the president of Nepal Chamber of Commerce, said. – The Statesman/ANN

There’s an app for it

Lonely Planet, the popular guidebook for budget travellers, has launched a free app, Guides, featuring guides to 38 cities around the world, including such major destinations as London, New York, Paris and Rome, Cape Town, Kyoto and Vienna. Each of the Guides features an average of about 1,000 entries including sights, hotels, restaurants and shops as well as maps. The app is available for both iOS and Android operating systems. The publisher still produces books and e-books, and offers much of its content online.