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Sometimes you don't need the deepest pockets to find the most deeply stylish pads. These are the 32 loveliest affordable places to stay across the world, starting with the cheapest
By Condé Nast Traveller
Finding cheap, nice hotels can feel difficult. With new, luxury openings coming regularly, it can sometimes seem as though affordable hotel options are few and far between, or in some cases, non-existent. But we're here to tell you that you can experience beautiful, unique hotels without spending hundreds of pounds a night – and we've made it easy by selecting the very best.
From South America to South-East Asia and even the USA, these are our favourite cheap, nice hotels from around the world. Or, check out our favourite affordable hotels in Europe.
Benjamin Holtrop
Casa Pueblo
If architect Geoffrey Bawa and artist James Turrell built a house together, it would probably look and feel like Casa Pueblo. With its patchy black façade – the deliberate result of a mix of different stucco textures and raw pigment – and imposing unpolished slatted-wood shutters, it's a standout in downtown Tulum. Step inside and a huge, breezy atrium diffuses the action from the street, opening into a calming refuge of communal tables, shady corners and sunbeds by a 12ft-deep saltwater pool. It's a natural-light-drenched blank canvas, where local innovators and savvy travellers meet, fuelled by hearty food, smoky cocktails and the fastest Wi-Fi connection in town.
The 16 hacienda-style rooms are spacious and soothing, minimal yet seamless, filled with hand-sculpted sconces, creamy linens and bedside tables topped with glass bottles of purified water – in fact, there isn't a single plastic item on site. Co-owner Derek Klein, who first made tracks on the Tulum scene in 2013 when he opened the jungle-groovy bar and restaurant Gitano, drove around Mexico looking for original pieces to furnish the property. So there are terracotta vases from Chiapas, red-clay dishes from Puebla and wooden stools from Oaxaca dotted around central spaces. Casa Pueblo might be around two miles from the beach, but it's still the best spot to explore the other side of Tulum, including the cenotes and Mayan ruins. Consider this the insiders' new base.
Address: Casa Pueblo, Avenue Tulum 106, Centro, 77780 Tulum, Q.R., Mexico
Telephone: +52 1 55 1139 8466
Price: Doubles from about £120
Allison V Smith
Hotel San José
South Congress (SoCo) is one of the best shopping avenues in Austin, especially if you're a vintage junkie on the prowl for a pair of cowboy boots or a Forties party frock. It's also home to the fabled honky-tonk music venue, the Continental Club. San José itself is a former motel transformed by forward-thinking hotelier Liz Lambert back when this was still a seedy strip (she also owns Hotel Saint Cecilia down the road and El Cosmico, a collection of teepees, tents and trailers in Marfa). Here the bungalow-style rooms are set around a lush courtyard. Some are in the wings of the original building; suites come with shared gardens or porches overlooking the tiny plunge pool.
The design throughout is lo-fi with pops of colour: patterned hippie blankets sewn together to make duvet covers (buy them from reception, along with the Malin + Goetz bath goodies), stripy kimonos in the bathrooms, cowhide rugs on concrete floors and framed concert posters on the walls. Beds are made from reclaimed hardwood, and in the living room there are white paper lampshades and tan leather scoop chairs by Garza Marfa. Rent a hotel bike to cycle around nearby Lady Bird Lake, then join the locals who gather in the courtyard at night to drink Shiner Bock craft beer and listen to DJs spinning mellow tunes.
Address: Hotel San José, 1316 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78704, United States
Website: sanjosehotel.com
Adrian Gaut
The Robey
Jostling alongside artisan coffee shops, independent boutiques and hot pop-up restaurants is exactly where you'd expect to find the newest hotel from Mexico's Grupo Habita. In the creative enclave between the original hipster neighbourhoods of Bucktown and Wicker Park, The Robey has made itself at home in Northwest Tower, a slender, triangular-shaped Art Deco gem that slots like a slice of pie right into the junction where Milwaukee, North and Damen Avenues meet. The hotel is certainly turning heads, not least for its thrumming street-level restaurant which serves up tasty French-American dishes, from early-morning scrambled eggs and crispy hash browns to juicy steak frites in the evening. Afterwards, guests meander to The Up Room, the rooftop bar, for a nightcap and to look out at the bright lights of Chicago's sprawling cityscape. Here - much like in the Second Floor Lounge - low-slung, custom-made seats are interspersed with mid-century-modern finds that don't detract from the building's original features: swathes of terrazzo flooring, brass details and marble wall panels. In the 89 bedrooms, there's a viridescent palette and tactile hardwood floors, as well as masses of natural light pouring in; book the corner suite and get eight vast windows wrapping around the space. The best hangout this summer will be poolside at the Cabana Club atop The Robey hotel for Mojitos and skyline views.
Address: The Robey, 2018 West North Avenue, Chicago, USA
Josue Copete
Blue Apple Beach House
Tierra Bomba, Colombia
Most visitors to the cobbled alleyways, brightly coloured buildings and bougainvillaea-draped balconies of Cartagena closet themselves inside the Old Town and don't get a sense of its surrounding jungly landscape and outlying archipelago. Some head to the ocean when the town gets sticky, though locals zip off in a speedboat to Blue Apple, an eco-minded, low-waste, Colombian-expat fusion project on the island of Tierra Bomba. At first, Cartageneros were taken aback by its position on this scrappy piece of land. But things caught on as they fell for its rustic style, wave-lashed setting and hammocks strung up above the squeaky white sand. Not to mention the rotation of artists, yogis, musicians, writers and photographers in residence to pep things up. Food and drink come in the form of Ottolenghi-style salads with a Colombian twist and Provençal rosé by the gallon.
After a day spent swimming and sunbathing, instead of bouncing back to Cartagena over the choppy water, those in the know book one of the 10 barefoot rooms. Some are stand-alone, palm-roofed cabanas, and others are in the main house. The newest ones were only finished last year: Coco, Piña and Corozo have breezy terraces with outdoor showers and plunge pools, and furniture from Tucurinca, a local brand that uses traditional weaving techniques. But the best is Manzana, with its 180-degree sea views and an enormous stone bathtub to splash in. This off-grid island has the funk of Formentera, a dash of Bahia's glamour and a hefty dose of Caribbean soul.
Address: Blue Apple Beach House, Playa Mamon #1-1, Bocachica, Isla Tierra Bomba, Cartagena, Bolivar, Colombia
Telephone: 57 316 750 69 79 (WhatsApp only due to the island's
lack of signal)
Deborah Grace
The Kip
Ahangama, Sri Lanka
As Sri Lanka's popularity as a surfing destination grows, so too do the number of guest houses and hostels bubbling up along the shoreline between Galle and Weligama, a walk or scooter ride away from the hotly contested breaks at Midigama and Kabalana. At the centre of it all is The Kip, a mellow village-home-turned-bed-and-breakfast. Around a minute's walk from the coast and surrounded by Ahangama's fretwork-fringed villas, The Kip's fresh style and affordability has already grabbed the attention of a steady stream of young, socially conscious travellers. And while the engaging hands-on owners, Phoebe Taylor and Seddy Di Francesco, who left their Australian home two years ago in search of a more leisurely life, aren't surfers themselves (yet), many of their guests are. Others come for the homely vibe.
The couple's sustainable design ethos is clear throughout. Three fan-cooled bedrooms have reclaimed timber furniture, potted palms and local basketry. They lead onto a dusky-pink courtyard – the venue of occasional supper clubs, pop-ups and workshops. The shop stocks ethical Sri Lankan products, such as hand-woven, plant-dyed fabrics, string bags made from banana fibres and natural skincare products. Last year, the couple opened The Kiosk, an airy garden hangout, serving tapas-style vegetable boards and vegan-friendly brunches of nut butter, soaked oats and smoothie bowls. Given the number of scooters parked in the garden, the café is already making waves in the local community, meaning a stay here is a surefire way to truly get under the skin of the neighbourhood.
Address: The Kip, Mahavidana Gedara, Dharmarama Road Ahangama Central, 80650, Sri Lanka
Price: Doubles from about £60
Mama Shelter
Up in boho Santa Teresa, a hilly neighbourhood of shabby mansions, steeply winding walled roads and bobbing bougainvillaea, there's a new hotspot on the block. The sixth Mama Shelter (after four in France and one in Los Angeles) has recently opened with 55 quirky, contemporary rooms, eye-popping murals by local artists and a blast of tropical chic. The structure of the building, though, has a more urban aesthetic. The two townhouses it occupies have been gutted and revamped using lots of exposed brick, rough wood and industrial steel. Jalil Amor, the São Paulo-based designer and former assistant to Philippe Starck, has dressed the interior with zingy streaks of colour, happy motivational scribblings on the chalkboard walls and eclectic objects.
Lampshades are made using rainbow Senhor do Bonfim ribbons from Bahia state (usually tied around wrists and ankles for good luck); underlit plastic crates are reimagined as bedside tables, and Looney Toons masks add a playful touch. The result is a crazy-cosy mash up. Guests have access to a video booth, virtual concierge and co-working spaces. A lack of room service nudges the shy and tired towards the bar and restaurant, which buzz with Cariocas. Craft beers, jugs of Caipirinhas and a Latin American-leaning menu make it hard to resist. The brand may be French by birth, but here it's proved itself to be Brazilian at heart.
Address: Mama Shelter, Rua Paschoal Carlos Magno, 5, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Jennings Hotel
The town of Joseph is part Santa Fe and part Aspen. Along the cobblestone sidewalks is a public art collection with a dozen monumental bronze sculptures, all cast at one of the four foundries in the area. Mountains, often snow-capped until July, rise to 9,000ft just to the south. One of the best displays of early-summer wildflowers in the American West covers the 240,000-acre Zumwalt prairie immediately north. An artisan chocolatier makes alder-smoked, sea-salt caramels and juniper-gin truffles in a 120-year-old brick building on Main Street. And with a population of about 1,100, the town is completely, wonderfully unassuming and welcoming. Stay here for a week and, halfway through, you'll be greeted by name when you walk around town. The Jennings brings the best elements of the place together under one roof.
Opened above Arrowhead Chocolates in summer 2015, with antiques and vintage pieces supplied by Rejuvenation in Portland, it has twelve asymmetrical rooms, an artist residency programme and an event space with an indoor archery range. Go for a sauna and then hang out in front of the wood-burning stove in the communal kitchen/library, which was created by seven different designers and where the only thing more attention-grabbing than the range of reading material and vinyl collection is the wall lined with 21ft-long fir shelves. Book cosy Room Two and you might not want to mingle though: relax into a tufted velvet sofa while listening to a killer collection of Eighties tapes on the vintage boombox.
Address: The Jennings Hotel, 100 North Main Street, Oregon, USA
La Riad Berbére
Paris has its Haussmann townhouses, New York its skyscrapers, but riads are what set Marrakech apart. There are more of these celebrated mansions in the heritage-listed medina than in any other city in North Africa, and architect Quentin Wilbaux has done much to contribute to their preservation, working with UNESCO to classify the historic buildings. In Kaat Ben Nahid, on the eastern edge of the souks, Wilbaux's own property, Le Riad Berbère, is in an area where the medina's social fabric remains intact. Bakers, barbershops and food stalls crowd the alleys, generating an intense atmosphere. But push through the heavy-set wooden door into the incense-scented house for an immediate sensory shift.
The metre-thick walls cut off the hawking hubbub before you're hit with the dramatic reveal of the courtyard and its delightful garden. The double-storey space draws the eyes up to a lofty roof terrace where once housewives would have gossiped over parapet walls and now magical candlelit dinners are served. Pared back to its essentials, the building's handsome, 17th-century bones are on show in the sculpted arches, hand-painted cedarwood ceilings and simple bejmat floor tiles. Just five rooms, three of them with balconies, run the length of the property, but staying here isn't just about sleeping in smart digs. The riad is managed by Ingrid Debertry who, along with four Marrakshi women, orchestrates home-cooked Moroccan meals, yoga lessons, manicures and massages, and gives an insight into a culture shaped by the unique architecture of its surroundings.
Address: Le Riad Berbère, 23 Derb Sidi Ahmed Ben Nasser Kaat Benahid, Marrakech, Morocco
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It might take time for dusty, chaotic Phnom Penh to grow on you, but that's not the case at lovely Plantation. On Street 184, a five-minute walk from the Royal Palace, National Museum and riverfront, this sanctuary of whirring fans and tropical plants has the most inviting pool in the city. It's quite something - 20 metres long, guests-only - and surrounded by foliage, cabanas and a bar-restaurant serving pizzas, green-mango salad, and a signature lemongrass, coriander and ginger-beer cocktail that's as refreshing as a swim. The new spa also offers massages from about £15. There's history here too. The Thirties buildings were French administrative quarters during colonial rule, and the Ministry of Labour after independence. They were saved from demolition by hotelier Alexis de Suremain's Maads group and it took two years of restoration work before Plantation opened in 2011.
Rooms are calm, neutral and stylish, with four-poster beds, colourful Khmer silk cushions and warm wooden furniture, while open bathrooms make rooms even brighter and airier (the loo is private, thankfully, and twin rooms have enclosed bathrooms). At dinner-only La Pergola restaurant, chef Olivier Guillon mixes French, Khmer and global flavours in his cardamom chocolate mousse, ricotta ravioli and duck with Kampot-pepper sauce, and the Lotus Pond Gallery and Red Pool Lounge courtyard often host art exhibitions. Sitting on half a hectare, it may feel less intimate than other boutique hotels, but staff are incredibly friendly, and for the price, there's nothing quite this lush and spacious. Amid the motorbike-honking chorus of the Cambodian capital, havens such as this are like gold dust.
Address: Plantation, 28 Street 184, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Telephone: +855 23 215 151
Hotel La Semilla
Playa del Carmen, with its tequila happy hours and all-inclusive wristbands, is not quite where you'd expect to find the supremely soothing haven of Hotel La Semilla, conjured up by Alexis Schärer, a fifth-generation Swiss hotelier, and his Mexican wife, Angie Rodriquez. The pair met while working at the Plaza Athénée hotel in New York, but their dream was to create one of their own, which they did in 2014, just off the quiet, far northern end of Playa del Carmen's buzzy 'Fifth Avenue'. The couple spent a year combing Mexico City's La Lagunilla flea market for furniture and curios, as well as picking up old hacienda finds from around the Yucatán. A little booklet in each bedroom details where the furniture has come from: an old pirate chest discovered in a house in Mérida; a lamp made from a showerhead used in public pools in the mid 1900s. But it's far from style over substance. The couple's hotel background shines through with handmade gifts at nightly turndown (freshly baked cookies; a pretty dreamcatcher fashioned from twigs and shells), the willingness to source a favourite spirit and add it to the bar, or an offer to send clothes out to be washed with the hotel laundry (no charge). Breakfast is served in the lush garden, where Alexis hovers between wicker peacock chairs and wrought-iron tables, dispensing tips for the day alongside the house juice: orange and cactus, spiced with cinnamon and honey.
Address: Hotel La Semilla, Calle 38 Norte mz. 4 lt. 3 Entre 5ta. Av. y el Mar, 77720 Playa del Carmen, Q.R., Mexico
In the past decade, the bearded and beanied denizens of Williamsburg have striven to make their corner of Brooklyn feel more like a charming dustbowl-era town and less like the condo-clogged neighbourhood it might become. This five-room bed and breakfast looks like an art-directed version of a country guesthouse filled with vintage paraphernalia: decades-old bottles, prints, filing cabinets, trunks, trinkets and textiles. Still, it's not kitsch: the four bedrooms in the main house are decorated with restraint, bathrooms are sparkling white, and a glass-paned garage door makes the living room airy and bright. (The Kanoono Cabin is a stand-alone suite in the backyard that, with its wood panelling, antler chandelier and log-burning stove, looks straight out of the Catskills.)
The hosts, former model Jersey Banks and former NFL player Lyon Porter, are as attentive as they are pretty, and their breakfasts include biscuits and gravy. With that thrown in, the place is a bargain, even considering that three of the five bedrooms are not en suite. But perhaps the best part is the lovely location: a 15-minute walk east of Williamsburg's busiest stretch, Bedford Avenue, it's in a still-gentrifying area close to the cool, locals-only bars and restaurants that line Lorimer, Grand and Graham.
Address: Urban Cowboy, 111 Powers St, Brooklyn, NY 11211, United States
Price: Doubles from £123
The Dream Catcher
Puerto Rican hotel-and-restaurant designer Sylvia de Marco has been collecting vintage finds for decades. Her personal touches fill the open-air spaces and tucked-away rooms at her lovely guesthouse. Mid-century side tables and rotary phones find their place alongside macramé wall hangings and botanical prints. Removed from the tourist hum of Old San Juan, this bohemian bed and breakfast sits close to the beachfront in more chilled-out Ocean Park. Each of the 12 quirky rooms is individually named and decorated with crochet bed covers, Berber rugs, retro wallpaper and Seventies light fixtures. In the garden there are swinging hammocks, Buddha statues, tropical-plant-lined walkways and outdoor showers in hidden corners.
The vibe is new-agey and relaxed, with public spaces and shared kitchens (stocked daily with coconut water), where fellow guests gather to swap travelling tips and anecdotes. Join in one of the sunset yoga sessions on the outdoor terrace or ask the front-desk manager Alex to arrange a rainforest tour or a paddle-boarding session down at the beach. Explore the neighbourhood's cafés, farmers' market and surf shops with de Marco's hand-drawn map of the area, which pinpoints her favourite haunts. Don't skip out too early without having breakfast first though. Chef Jerome Valencia serves up three courses of vegetarian and vegan delights - fresh hibiscus juice, chia pudding and chocolate-avocado mousse - that takes healthy island food to a whole new level.
Address: The Dreamcatcher, 2009 Calle España, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Tai Power Seeff
Bambu Indah
Bali is a complicated paradise and the deeper you dive under its surface the more interesting and beautiful it becomes. Which is why it helps to stay in the right place and meet the right people. Bohemian eco-hotel Bambu Indah in central Ubud will set you on the right track. With just 14 suites in beautiful bamboo buildings and antique Javanese bridal houses surrounded by lush gardens, it overlooks an expanse of emerald-green rice fields and the spectacular Sayan Gorge. Owner John Hardy - a jewellery designer and founder of Bali's Green School - is here most mornings and he knows everything about the island, and seemingly everyone on it.
Hardy's son Orin oversees the hotel's permaculture gardens, which feed the excellent onsite organic restaurant (try the club sandwich with tempe and kale or the spicy shredded duck served with rice and bok choy). His architect daughter Elora, renowned for her otherworldly structures made out of bamboo, has created several of the buildings, including a new kitchen for cookery classes. The staff can organise anything you like - even taking part in a religious ceremony if that's your thing - but there is also much to discover right here: harp strings embedded in the towering yoga pavilion; a rope swing from which to leap into the lava-stone pool. Just exploring the grounds is to discover an enchanting, secret side to Bali.
Address: Bambu Indah, Jl. Banjar Baung, Desa Sayan, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Price: Villas from about £85
Lucas Allen
The Larwill Studio
A stay at The Larwill Studio might just unleash the artist (or even child) in you. Guests are invited to jump on the beds, draw in sketchbooks or roll a rubber dice to choose the day's activity. Built within the precinct of the Royal Children's Hospital, the hotel pays homage to the late, great David Larwill, one of Australia's leading figurative expressionists. Giclée prints of his naïve paintings are hung on bedroom walls and in public spaces; three originals decorate the multifunctional lobby space, including his signature Remember Me. Half of the 96 bedrooms overlook peaceful parklands; the prized corner ones have bonus city views. Everything is playfully art-themed, with 'Artist at Work' and 'Out Feeding the Birds' on door signs for privacy, large paint-brushed room numbers and stacks of art books. Neutral wall colours allow the artworks to sing, and the beds are so comfortable you will want to order one for your own home. There's also an emphasis on wellbeing, with yoga mats in rooms and running maps for exploring, access to Sweat Gym and Lekker bikes for hire. Smartcars are available for discovering Melbourne, while Smith + Singleton restaurant and bar next door has a please-all menu ranging from Reuben and Niçoise sandwiches to oysters, grilled prawns and lamb cutlets.
Address: The Larwill Studio, 48 Flemington Rd, Parkville VIC 3052, Australia
The Edison George Town
George Town, the capital of Penang island, is a city of sticky layers, where old craftsmen trade alongside new cafés and hawker stalls dish up char koay teow (stir-fried rice noodles) in front of heritage buildings. It's a place that is both deeply historic and relentlessly inventive, and the 35-room Edison George Town is a fine example of this, housed in a villa with a lively past dating back to 1906. Originally built for Hokkien tycoon Yeoh Wee Gark, the site later became an opium den, then a Japanese wartime office, and more recently a backpackers' hostel. In 2014, Singaporean hotelier Eddie Tan decided to restore the vacant house to its former glory. The work has been elegantly done, highlighting the original details while bringing it up-to-date, adding Art Deco furnishings and simple accents of colour.
Guests walk down sweeping wooden stairs and over century-old marble-tiled floors, but can also enjoy a very good espresso from the Franke coffee machine in the sitting room, which is stocked with help-yourself snacks 24 hours a day. Upstairs, there's a library with deep squishy sofas and rocking chairs; outside, the covered garden is a sunny spot for breakfast. It may feel steeped in romance and nostalgia, but the Edison is relaxed rather than stuffy. For more culture, head across the street for a guided tour of the Blue Mansion, a Chinese-style museum. Most of George Town's other attractions, including some of the world's best street food, are within a few minutes' walk.
Address: The Edison, 15 Lebuh Leith, Penang, Malaysia
Telephone: +604 262 2990
47 Jobner Bagh
Until recently visitors to Jaipur, the pink capital of Rajasthan, had two options: stay in a restored palace or a zero-star guesthouse. Which is why this wonderful new haven is proving such a draw, particularly among the fashion crowd who appreciate its refined but relaxed aesthetic and extraordinary value for money. Staying at 47 Jobner Bagh is like moving in with an old pal and meeting their interesting, creative friends. The owner, Shiva Gujar, who has been in the jewellery business for a couple of decades, worked with the late Italian architect Paola Giacomini to create the charming, 11-bedroom retreat with its whitewashed, curved jali walls and wide terraces; the simple, sunlit interiors are furnished with much-loved antiques and vintage Indian pieces.
The hotel is just beyond the edge of the old walled city, in what was once the garden of the Maharajah of Jobner's haveli, and there is a splendid roof terrace with views of the 18th-century Nahargarh Fort. Shiva's wife Anita creates wonderful home-cooked Indian suppers, which you can eat in the garden or candle-lit dining room; her friendly staff serve tea, coffee, nimbu pani (lemon water) and snacks throughout the day. The delightful Megha, Shiva's daughter, runs a stylish shop selling local textiles and crafts. Dr Upal's small spa offers both Ayruvedic and aromatherapy massages and he's also an excellent yoga teacher.
Address: 47 Jobner Bagh, Near Chandpol Metro Station T3, Chandpol Police Line, 302001, Jaipur, India
Chris Warnes Photographer and Romy Alwill Interior Design
Bannisters Port Stephens
A drowned river valley lined with sleepy towns a two-hour drive from Sydney, Port Stephens is the sort of place where you could easily while away a week. There are miles of powder-soft beach, a resident bottle-nosed dolphin population and cerulean waters that make an extraordinary habitat for turtles, grey nurse sharks and black rock cod. And it's also the location for Rick Stein's second Australian restaurant, a lofty, light-filled space in the box-fresh £8-million remodel of the 1968 Salamander Shores hotel. His concept, which first took flight in scenic Mollymook – a spot he chose not just for the quality of its seafood, or the fact it's where his wife Sarah spent her childhood holidays, but for its likeness to his adopted Cornish hometown of Padstow – continues in Port Stephens.
Architects preserved the building's retro, whitewashed exterior; inside, designer Romy Alwill transformed the lobby with full-length glass panels that slide open to an infinity pool ringed by candy-striped, canary-yellow umbrellas. Bedrooms are done up in cheery blue and pink palettes, and have terraces that look out over the Karuah River, framed by a verge of eucalyptus that's home to nesting koalas. Stein's first-floor restaurant is more industrial; a union of polished brick, concrete and blonde wood with draped greenery, and the menu celebrates its surroundings. Come for fish pie studded with salmon and creamy scallops, or lobster hauled in from neighbouring Nelson Bay, all paired with Stein's own Semillon Riesling – a crisp white that tastes of long, lazy summers. This is a blissfully uncrowded and unspoilt alternative to Byron, Bondi and other better-known stretches of Aussie coast.
Address: Bannisters Port Stephens, Bannisters, 147 Soldiers Point Rd, Soldiers Point NSW 2317, Australia
Nataly Lee
Treeline Urban
As planes descend into Siem Reap, passengers can't help but notice the trees. Clumps of skinny coconut palms sprout from rice paddies. Fruit varieties – papaya, pomelo, mango, jackfruit and tamarind – are strewn across the earth-covered yards of old-school timber houses. Frangipanis fill pagoda grounds. Tuk-tuks to Angkor Wat trundle through towering forest, where temples are strangled by the tangled roots of banyan, fig and cotton. Back in town, everything from rosewood to rain trunks shade the banks of the Siem Reap River, which meanders through the French-colonial centre.
Guests at Treeline look out upon their leafy canopy from sun loungers beside the second-floor infinity pool. At sunset, they gather at the adjacent Canopy Bar, G&T mixed with local Seekers Mekong Dry Gin and kaffir lime in hand. The green theme continues within the white stone walls of designer and owner Hok Kang's eco-friendly hotel, where his love of nature resonates through every corner. Cambodian art installations – made with stones, seeds and palm leaves – are on show in the lobby and hang from walls and ceilings in the Hok Noodle Bar and Grill. They also adorn the bedrooms, which are decked out in handcrafted modernist furniture, textiles from zero-waste brand Tonlé and ceramics by local artisans. Next up, Kang plans to start an art foundation and protect the riverside with clean-up campaigns and a tree-planting programme. And the bedside reading in each room? A copy of The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, of course. It's this celebration of nature that distinguishes this boutique hotel from the rest in the temple town.
Address: Treeline Urban, Achasva Street Wat Bo Village, Krong Siem Reap, Cambodia
Ubud, Bali
A swerve down a track off Ubud's main artery, Bisma Eight doesn't at first appear to be what you'd expect to find among the absinthe-green paddy fields in Bali's spiritual centre. But that's part of the appeal of the lean, raw-concrete architecture, because this is a hotel that combines the traditional with the surprising. In the semi-open-air lobby, breeze past a shrine to Hindu god Ganesh and black-and-white photographs nodding to Bali's history. Then stop by the Library Café, where a barista pours flat whites and, later, Espresso Martinis. The courtyard garden is lush with frangipani, pandan palms and wild grasses – and the soundtrack is of the river whooshing by in the valley below.
Soak up the sun by the infinity pool cantilevered over the jungle treetops, then escape to one of the huge rooms (new villas are slated to arrive this summer) with their huge, cedar-wood Japanese soaking tubs and endless views over the hillside. Sleek and contemporary, the interiors are finished with woven leather and warm organic wood. The Copper Kitchen, Bar and Rooftop is open to the elements, with an earth-to-table menu that showcases its commitment to sustainability and uses ingredients from the property's own organic farm (guests are encouraged to forage for their own vegetables). Fun mixology and cookery classes are hosted here, too – learn to make arrack-spiked cocktails or jamu, the classic Indonesian turmeric tonic. This is a supremely polished, just out-in-the-wilderness hotel, and a great base for exploring.
Address: Bisma Eight, Jl. Bisma No.68, Ubud, Kabupaten Gianyar, Bali 80571, Indonesia
The Drake Hotel
Ten years after it opened in the boho gallery district of West Queen West, this place remains on top of its game. Owner Jeff Stober turned the former flophouse into a prototype for what has since become a trend: the downtown urban retreat plugged into its neighbourhood. The nostalgic look delivered by design firm +tongtong is taken from old photos of the area and original buildings, so it feels like a distillation of moments and visual textures. An old brass staircase leads to corridors with a fabulous collection of Canadian modernist art. The bedrooms (choose from Nook, Crash Pad, Den, Studio, Salon and suite) are lined with vintage William Morris wallpaper and the beds are laid with Dada-inspired stuffed animals made from recycled materials.
The full Drake experience includes dancing in the Underground basement bar and listening to live acts in the Lounge (Broken Social Scene, Beck and MIA have all performed here). There is chicken and waffles for brunch at the hipster café, and lobster nachos in the restaurant. Be sure to hang out in the Sky Yard rooftop lounge, which flips its decor seasonally: there's a fire pit and Hudson Bay blankets to keep guests warm in winter, helped along by the signature cocktail, the Deliverance (Calvados, cedar-infused Bulleit bourbon, Fernet-Branca and maple syrup). The Drake General Store next door sells great homespun Canadiana-themed stuff.
Address: The Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON M6J 1J3, Canada
Price: Crash Pads (doubles) from £120
Emma Tuccillo
Rivertown Lodge
With the recent opening of this hip and stylish hotel, the heart of New York State's creative community (aka Brooklyn North) is at last ready for overnight guests. Co-owner Ray Birkle made a name for himself consulting on Condesa Hotel in Mexico City and New York's Gramercy Park Hotel before taking the plunge with this 27-room property, a former motel built as a cinema in the 1920s. At the top of Hudson's historic main thoroughfare, Warren Street, near many of the top shops and restaurants (Zak Pelaccio's Fish & Game is excellent), Rivertown Lodge takes its inspiration from the trendsetting Bunkhouse hotel group of Austin, Texas, and the always hip Ace. The public spaces are filled with vintage and custom-made furniture such as the rolled-bronze bar, and there are a pair of potbelly wood stoves in the sitting room.
Bedrooms are modern and simple, with cherry-wood beds and raw brass light fixtures by Brooklyn-based Workstead. Perhaps surprisingly the smallest rooms, with alcove double beds surrounded by books, are some of the best. And after a long day out antiquing - the shop everyone is salivating over is Finch, which has both vintage and modern pieces by local artisans - raid the pantry for Pecan Bars and Salted Chocolate Rye Cookies from Hawthorne Valley Farm, and ask the bartender to mix an Old Flannel (2oz Hudson Baby Bourbon, 1 whole fresh squeezed orange, and 4 drops of cedar bitters).
Address: Rivertown Lodge, 731 Warren St, Hudson, NY 12534, United States
Kaju Green
Galle, Sri Lanka
There's more to the Galle area than buzzy beaches, a historic fort and the famous cricket ground. At Kaju Green, a slick, contemporary eco-lodge set on a jungly inland island just off the beaten track, you can enjoy the relaxed pace of a leafy hideout and still be within 10 minutes of the Dutch-colonial town (tuk-tuks are on hand to whisk guests to the shallow waters of nearby barefoot hotspot Wijaya Beach, too). Kaju is simple but stylish – the minimalist cabins, cooled by fans, have bamboo walls and are partially open to the elements, meaning that guests are woken by birdsong and melodious temple chanting. The wooded grounds, rich in wildlife, feel deliberately untouched, yet certain corners are tamed, decked and scattered with sun loungers for quiet stealing away.
At its centre is an open-plan cement-and-timber restaurant – its clean, modern design a far cry from the island's more traditional aesthetic – with a rooftop yoga platform and a pool that juts out onto the only clear stretch of lawn. The atmosphere is sociable yet contemplative. The staff, led by open-armed manager Nuwani Dias, always smartly dressed in a jewel-coloured sari, are attentive, and the food alone is worth staying for: rainbow breakfasts of tropical fruit, rice porridge, buffalo curd, pancakes topped with treacled coconut, and curry dishes to be mopped up with rice, string hoppers and roti. As finding a space that offers total tranquility in this honeypot area becomes more and more difficult, here's a retreat that allows you to dip in and out of the action.
Address: Kaju Green, Moraduwawatta, Mataramba, Unawatuna, Galle, Sri Lanka
Strandloper Ocean Boutique Hotel
Paternoster was once just a few whitewashed fishermen's cottages at the end of a lonely road. The village has inched upmarket but is still laid-back. At its very edge, the Strandloper Ocean has glass-walled rooms on the dunes of a quiet stretch of beach, and others in Cape Dutch style around a courtyard. Guests are lulled to sleep by Atlantic breakers, and can laze in the bath looking out to sea or walk on the beach, crunching over mussel shells four inches deep. The muted design neither detracts from the surrounding beauty nor makes you jumpy about trailing sand indoors. Here and there is a touch of Africa: wild flowers from the finbos heathland; an ostrich egg on a side table; paintings by local artists. The chef cooks freshly caught seafood with simplicity and finesse. But what visitors are most likely to carry away is a sensation of charm: of the waitress who makes sure breakfast is prepared as they like it, the butler who drives across town to pick them up from a restaurant, the unaffected friendliness that makes them feel that they're a guest in the home of a very, very lucky friend.
Address: Strandloper Ocean Boutique Hotel, Patterson Slot, Paternoster, 7381, South Africa
Sheila Man - Bali Interiors
The Slow
Canggu, Bali
Here is a place that exemplifies that next-generation knack of not just looking good, but having an interesting backstory, too. Creatives who flit between Brooklyn, Dalston, Biarritz and Venice Beach are adding Canggu to their circuits – and more specifically The Slow, a tropical-brutalist mash-up of a building just minutes away from moped-clogged Batu Bolong. With its polished concrete, mid-century-modern rattan and wooden slats, this 12-room hangout – without expansive grounds or any hotel extras to speak of – lives up to the hype by nailing the basics brilliantly: large beds, sultry bathrooms and minibars stocked with bottles of arrack-based cocktails.
The on-point aesthetic comes as no surprise with George Gorrow, co-creator of Australian fashion label Ksubi, at the helm – The Slow's adjoining store is a flagship for his new menswear line, Non-Type. Meanwhile, the walls of this eat-drink-sleep address moonlight as gallery space, and against clean lines in stone, wood and brick, custom-made furniture shines through. There's a Seventies playlist to enhance the ambience, and musicians drop by the open-walled restaurant to spin vinyl for exhibition launches, while hipster holidaymakers and expats meet over ever-inventive small plates and local brews. The restaurant's original chef has relocated to New York, but with the baton passed to Robbin Holmgren, former head chef of Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant in London's Old Street, expect the healthy, delicious flavours served on pretty ceramics to become even more compelling.
Address: The Slow, Pantai Batu Bolong Street No.97, Canggu, North Kuta, Badung Regency, Bali 80361, Indonesia
Rooms Hotel
Tbilisi, Georgia
Tbilisi sits in a valley basin, framed by snow-capped mountains, with a river running through it past dilapidated buildings from different centuries. If it feels as old as the hills, that's because it was first inhabited in 479AD. Rooms Hotel, though, is something quite new for the city, tucked down a quiet side street in the Vera neighbourhood. Around the corner is Petre Melikishvili Street with its many shops and grandmothers selling churchkhela (walnuts covered in thick grape juice). Right across the street is Lolita, for beers and sweet-potato fries. It has a nightclub too, which won't disturb you unless you want it to. The area feels like a mix of bohemian Paris, Vienna or Budapest but with post-Soviet faded charm.
The hotel is set in the impressive steel and wooden block of a former publishing house. Its eclectic interior design is inspired by the travels of owner Temur Ugulava, who cites Soho House and the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn as inspiration. The crackling of the open fire in the library is accompanied by electronic club-beats. Bedrooms have silk wallpaper and subway-tiled bathrooms. Downstairs velvet curtains and Chesterfield sofas are matched to kilims and Scandinavian chairs. But the art on the walls is all Georgian. In the restaurant, huge windows face onto a leafy courtyard, so it feels as if you are munching the homemade breakfast granola in a giant greenhouse. Later on, peer at head chef Henry Zimmermann serving up great steaks from the open kitchen (he previously worked at Berlin's Grill Royal). But for local food such as khinkali (dumplings filled with broth and meat), sweet talk the charming staff and they will rustle up a plate just for you.
Address: Rooms Hotel, 14 Merab Kostava Street, Tbilisi, Georgia
COMO Hotels and Resorts
When it comes to Bali, COMO laid down its roots way back with its deeply special wellness retreat Shambhala Estate and jungle haunt Uma Ubud. But in a sidestep from its signature zen locations, last year the group opened on Echo Beach in Canggu. This place draws a more bohemian crowd than shouty, shiny Seminyak further south, with guests drawn to the stretching volcanic sand and frothy sea. Designed by Italian interiors supremo Paola Navone, the rooms – set around a colossal, wibbly edged pool – are calming and classic. They have white textiles, locally made teak- and mindi-wood furniture, and tiger's eye-hued mosaic-clad bathrooms. There's a small but brilliant spa where you can lie in domed cocoon beds while nibbling goat's cheese on sourdough, or watch the surf junkies from a swing chair.
Wannabe wave riders can book sessions with CJ Kimell, the in-house Tropicsurf guru, who'll do his best to transform novices from kook to dude. The real magic comes from dipping into the neighbourhood and its cafés and shops, such as cult Australian clothing brand YÖli & Otis, just a motorbike whizz away. At dusk, the skies over the Beach Club are streaked in red. Here, towering black-and-white pillars, batik-style patterns and DJs spinning tunes from decks decorated with tribal masks combine to create a jazzed-up surf-shack vibe that's fittingly cool for this corner of the island.
Address: COMO Uma Canggu, Echo Beach, Jl. Pantai Batu Mejan, Canggu, Kuta Utara, Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80361, Indonesia
The Sandhya
The almost-mile-long beach at Kabalana in southern Sri Lanka has come into its own in recent years. Pristine sand, ringside views of spectacular sunsets and a consistent swell has nurtured a laid-back scene where surfers, families and couples quietly coexist. Traditional pitched-roofed guest houses are a mainstay on this coast, so The Sandhya breaks new ground with its clean lines, boxy silhouette and contemporary minimalist aesthetic. Singapore-born owner Alan Tan built the hotel from scratch, and brought in Sebastian Conran-taught Linden Davies to craft the mid-century-modern-inspired interiors. There are just nine rooms, and instead of TVs they have widescreen west-facing views of the sea through floor-to-ceiling glass windows. In the double-height lobby and out on the slim, tiled terrace, the mood is low-key and slow-paced – guests swim in the lap pool or the ocean and rent boards from the surf outfits lining the beach, before jumping on a tuk-tuk into Galle to shop or explore its 17th-century fort. But The Sandhya isn't just for luxe-loving break chasers. The hotel's overwhelming sense of calm, its welcoming staff and its nourishing farm-to-table menu – DIY poké bowls; spaghetti made with coconut milk; and salads of little-known local produce such as snake gourd and the herb gotu kola – are drawing in intrepid design-keen travellers. The result is a surprisingly sleek beach house with soul.
Address: The Sandhya, Kabalana Beach, Baranige Watha, Walhengoda, Ahangama, Sri Lanka
For all the quirky cafés and boutiques in Ubud, Bali's arty heart in a district dotted by Hindu shrines, the town has a hectic feel with clogged roads and crowds of visitors. At the Stone House, two kilometres north, this madness melts away. Wrapped by a limestone wall and green palms is a space where steps are dusted by petals, a porch swing creaks in the breeze and the squawks of greater coucal pierce the silence. At the centre is a pool made of hand-cut stone from Java, its surface catching falling frangipanis, overlooking a patchwork of rice paddies. A labour of love for American couple Walker Zabriskie and Wendy Kassel, the B&B has been open for just over a year. They have the insider edge on the island's expat scene; their daughter attends the pioneering Green School and artist friends are always dropping in. While Kassel adds charming service to this chic setting, as well as the art on the walls, furniture designer Zabriskie tools away with sustainable and recycled Indonesian wood.
The timbers hold many stories from their former lives: ironwood found off Sulawesi - submerged for more than 100 years - is now a canopied bed, and one wall has been salvaged from a Javanese palace. There are three villas, each a fusion of styles, from the whites and blues of a Greek-island mountain home to reclaimed dark woods softened by dhurrie rugs and handmade Borneo rattan. Slow-start mornings begin with chilled coconut water and fresh fruit in the opened-sided lodge, but for a kickstart choose eggs pepped up with red chillies. Kassel doesn't like it too busy, so if you're lucky you could find that you have the whole honeypot to yourself.
Address: Stone House, Jalan Tirta Tawar, Kutuh Kaja, Petulu, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Website: stonehousebali.com
Lauryn Ishak
Azerai
Can Tho, Vietnam
The cultural capital of southern Vietnam's Mekong Delta, Can Tho feels like a bit of a metropolis if you come here after a few days spent in the gentle rhythm of the backwaters. Traditionally, it's been a spot for day-trippers from Saigon, who rise early for dawn excursions to the floating markets where conical-hatted traders hustle for business above the rat-a-tat-tat of spluttering boat engines. But now, there's a reason to linger: a new hotel on its own private islet that's accessible only by cruising across the water in a boat. It takes its name from the end of the word caravanserai (derived from the Persian for roadside inn), and the initials of owner Adrian Zecha, who founded hotel brand Aman.
This is one of his two forays into luxe-for-less (the other, in Hue, opened earlier this year), and the colonial-style pavilions along the lotus-flecked lake borrow from his winning formula of understated design rather than flashiness. Mangrove and banyan trees line the glassy jade pool and one-bedroom villas are filled with warm wood and bamboo – a look that's echoed in the café, restaurant and bar. Shady gardens provide respite from the organised chaos across the water – of which not even a whisper can be heard as the sunset turns the
sky pink. You're just as likely to find families seeking downtime here as you are well-heeled Aman junkies – a sign that Zecha is on to a very good thing indeed.
Address: Azerai, 5 Lê Lợi, Vĩnh Ninh, Thành phố Huế, Thừa Thiên Huế 530000, Vietnam
Website: azerai.com
Vanessa Fuentes and Nada Lottermann for Design HotelsTM - Made By Originals
Lo Sereno Casa De Playa
Troncones, Mexico
Most people assume Mexico's Pacific coastline is similar to Los Cabos, a string of mega retreats with chlorine-filled swimming pools and all-you-can-eat buffets. But in Troncones, an under-the-radar fishing village that appears to tumble beneath the Sierra Madre mountains, this is not the case. A tiny one-horse town with copper-sand beaches, waving coconut palms and tumultuous sea, it has an easy-going loveliness and wild beauty. This was what first captivated Rafael Sainz Skewes – Lo Sereno's owner and a Mexico City native – when he rode through the area on his motorbike 19 years ago. He bought the ocean-front property but had no plan, intending to come back someday. It wasn't until a few years ago that he decided to turn it into his version of the perfect lo-fi beach hotel.
The 10 rooms are earthy and simple, with crisp white linens, woven rugs on concrete floors and private terraces. Outside, wooden sunbeds line up around the inky-black-tiled infinity pool and under a canopy that stretches onto the sand. Days begin with coffee and surfing and end with sunset Mescal Margaritas, followed by dinners of freshly caught fish and warm tacos at the open-air restaurant, where the sound of the waves plays on repeat. A free-spirited spot that feels a bit like Tulum, but before the secret got out.
Address: Lo Sereno Casa de Playa, Avenue de la Playa MZ 20 LT 12 CR 40802, Troncones, 40804 Troncones, Gro., Mexico
Website: losereno.com
Matías Sauter and Daniela Linares from Selva Studio
Hotel Aguas Claras
Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
With its expert surf breaks and crowds of wellness seekers, the free-spirited west coast has become a must-visit on most Costa Rican circuits. But on a pocket of the Caribbean's more undiscovered south-east coastline is a funky little town called Puerto Viejo, which moves to an easy reggae beat at the edge of an untouched beach. It is home to the newly renovated boutique hotel Aguas Claras, a labour of love for artist owner Elizabeth Steinvorth who bought a holiday home here 30 years ago – back when it had no electricity or tarmac roads. When the cluster of run-down cabanas on stilts next door went up for sale, Steinvorth recognised their charm and set about rebuilding each one using natural local materials and upcycled furniture. The place is now bang up-to-speed; the bar mixes a mean Guaro Sour, the restaurant serves sophisticated dishes of sea-bass ceviche and plantain with fresh guacamole, and there are bicycles on hand for pootling into town or ambling up the coast.
All around is jungle: you may wake to the shouts of a howler monkey and the screech of a macaw, or spot a sloth up a tree or an emerald basilisk in the undergrowth around the pool. But the artistic touches are what set this space apart. Cabanas are done up in breezy whites with cheerful splashes of colour, bright fabrics, paintings inspired by the property's tropical surroundings, and mirrors and lampshades hand-decorated with shells from the beach: all the work of Steinvorth and her network of creative friends. It's a living installation and lovely hotel rolled into one – in an ahead-of-the-curve part of the country.
Address: Hotel Aguas Claras, Limón Province, Punta Cocles, Costa Rica
Website: hotelaguasclaras.com
Cape Cadogan
This smart, 15-room hotel in Cape Town's fashionable Gardens neighbourhood opened 12 years ago and the owners, always happy to tweak and upgrade, have just given it a complete makeover. The city's increasingly enticing bar, restaurant and home-grown shopping scene has sprung up around it, which means you really couldn't find a better place from which to plug into the city. The Edwardian exterior is classic-pristine with wrought-iron fencing, crisp white paintwork, black shutters and perfectly pruned shrubbery; inside it's chic, modern and thoroughly grown-up. There are velvet-covered sofas to sink into for afternoon tea or pre-dinner drinks, vases overflowing with blooms from neighbouring florist, Stalk of the Town, and fresh macaroons in attention-seeking colours on the reception desk. Over the years the owners (the More family, who also run several safari lodges) have bought up many of the surrounding heritage townhouses lining the cobbled lanes, creating a private, immaculately kept village incorporating the hotel, a four-bedroom villa and private apartments, known as More Quarters. There are two private guides to take guests on a Cape Peninsula tour, wine tasting or up Signal Hill to watch the sun rise over the city with a picnic breakfast. You'd be hard-pressed to find a retreat as slick or private as Cape Cadogan at this price anywhere in Cape Town.
Address: Cape Cadogan, 5 Upper Union St, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001, South Africa
Website: capecadogan.co.za
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The arts contribute to increased self-awareness and one's own capacity for contribution to the larger community of humanity.
Students traveling to The Festival Fringe, this summer, will return to campus with more than just cherished memories; they'll be armed with a working knowledge of how to perform in non-traditional venues. It is something they will need to draw upon beginning this fall -- as the John A. Saks '31 Auditorium will close its doors in June. Fundraising is currently underway and if everything continues to go well, the theatre will undergo a complete renovation.
It all started with an invitation. Or, more precisely, the lack of an invitation. After eight performance groups showed up uninvited to the Edinburgh International Festival in 1947, they decided to perform anyway—on the fringe, which spurred the creation of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Gigi Schadrack began dancing ballet at the age of three. The Hun School senior, who spent much of her childhood in Lucerne, Switzerland, has trained with prestigious ballet schools both abroad and here in the States. While she was on the professional track for many years, Schadrack didn't want to make a choice between pursuing ballet and academics. "In Switzerland, you have to choose at the age of ten, but I wanted to do both." It's one of the reasons she chose The Hun School—both for its breadth of academic offerings and its proximity to Princeton Ballet School, where Schadrack dances six days a week in addition to performing with American Repertory Ballet.
Arts education teaches that the inspiration of an artist springs from the sum of life experiences and from the various frameworks of history and values in our backgrounds. It is important for students to develop an understanding and appreciation for the arts within their own, as well as other, cultures.
The arts contribute to increased self-awareness and one's own capacity for contribution to the larger community of humanity. Fine Arts courses provide access to both practical and hands-on experiences, and an opportunity to learn through reading, observing, and writing. The goals are to develop reasoning, offer thought and information behind judgment, and give imagination a place to flourish.
Loyola Marymount University - B.S.
Eastman School of Music - M.M.
Tyler School of Art - M.F.A.
University of Nebraska - B.F.A.
Glassboro State College - B.A.
Purchase College, SUNY - B.F.A.
University of the Arts - M.A.
Westminster Choir College of Rider University - B.M.E.
Westminster Choir College of Rider University - M.A.T.
Trenton State College - B.A.
Seton Hall University - A.B.
New York University - J.D.


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Japan, Vietnam sign defense transfer deal amid China worries
TOKYO (AP): Japan can now give defence equipment and technology to Vietnam under an agreement signed last Saturday, as the two countries step up their military cooperation amid worries about China's growing military influence.
Japan's Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi said the deal elevates their defence partnership to a new level and that Japan and Vietnam plan to deepen defence ties through multinational joint exercises and other means.
Details about the transfer of specific equipment, including naval vessels, will be worked out in subsequent talks, the ministry said.
Kishi's meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart, Phan Van Giang, in Hanoi coincided with a two-day visit to the Vietnamese capital by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
He wrapped up his visit by saying China plans to donate 3 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine to Vietnam.
The agreement comes two weeks after the US Vice President Kamala Harris travelled to Vietnam to strengthen ties with the Southeast Asian nation.
During the tour, Harris urged countries to stand up against bullying by China in the South China Sea.
Japan's Defence Ministry said in a statement that Kishi and Giang agreed on the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation and overflight in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as cooperation in various defense areas including cybersecurity.
Tokyo regularly protests the Chinese coast guard's presence near the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands, which China also claims and calls Diaoyu.
Japanese officials say Chinese vessels routinely violate Japanese territorial waters around the islands, sometimes threatening fishing boats.
During the talks, Kishi expressed Japan's strong opposition to "any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by coercion or any activities that escalate tensions, referring to China's increasingly assertive activity in the East and South China Sea, but without identifying any country by name.
Vietnam is the 11th nation with which Japan has signed a defense equipment and technology transfer deal.
Tokyo is looking to expand military cooperation beyond its longtime ally the United States, and has signed similar agreements with Britain, Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Japan Vietnam China Defence technology

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Coberley Church of England Primary School is situated in an idyllic rural setting, in a conservation area. It admits children from the village, the surrounding parishes and due to its popularity, now welcomes children from Cheltenham and Gloucester.
The school was established in 1861 when the main stone building and school house was built. In the 1980's an Elliot Medway temporary classroom was added and in the 1990's a further single bay was added to house the administration offices. In 2001/2 the school developed a new library and ICT area and built the Reception/Year 1 Classroom. In 2006, a new play area was developed for Reception children and enhancement of the grounds around the school began.


There has been a four-fold increase in the number of children and teenagers admitted to hospital for obesity-related conditions in the last decade, doctors in England and Wales warn.
In 2009, nearly 4,000 young people needed hospital treatment for problems complicated by being overweight compared with just 872 in 2000.
Rates of obesity surgery also went up, especially for teenage girls.
Obesity has been linked with serious illnesses during childhood and an increased risk of developing conditions, such as type-2 diabetes, asthma and breathing difficulties during sleep.
National surveys in England suggest about three in 10 two-to-15-year-olds are overweight, while 14-20% are obese.
A team led by Dr Sonia Saxena, of Imperial College London, analysed statistics on all NHS admissions for obesity – as a primary cause or alongside conditions that had been complicated by obesity – in hospitals in England and Wales over a 10-year period in patients aged five to 19.
Admissions were more common in girls than boys, the team reported in the journal Public Library of Science ONE.
Meanwhile, the number of cases of surgery for obesity rose from just one in 2000 to 31 in 2009, with the majority in teenage girls.
Over the whole 10-year period, a total of 20,885 young people were treated in hospital for obesity-related conditions.
Nearly three-quarters of cases involved problems complicated by being overweight, such as asthma, sleep apnoea, and pregnancy complications.
The researchers, from Imperial College and the Medical University of South Carolina, say that while part of the increase is probably due to better monitoring of obesity in children, the condition is imposing greater challenges for hospitals.
Dr Saxena said the UK was now seeing serious consequences of people being obese in their teenage years and early adulthood.
"We are seeing – through obesity – an increasing number of children with conditions that we previously diagnosed in adulthood… [and which] are now being diagnosed in childhood," she told BBC News.
The UK has the highest rate of child obesity in Western Europe, which is estimated to cost the NHS about £4.2bn a year.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said there was a need for urgent action, but there was no "silver bullet" solution.
Amy Thompson, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "These are very worrying findings that shed more light on a growing threat to the heart health of this nation.
"We know obese children are more likely to become obese adults who are then at greater risk of having a heart attack or stroke. We must encourage the next generation to make healthier lifestyle choices and help them eat a balanced diet and stay active.


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Around The Continent, Eurovision 2023, NEWS
As we continue our weekly series Around The Continent, we will discuss the news and tell the story of each country's preparation for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. Austria's …
General The semi-final allocation draw will be held on Tuesday, the 31st of January 2023, at 20:00 CET and will be available online on the …
Eurovision 2023, NEWS
La Zarra will represent France at Eurovision Song Contest 2023
Its been revealed by France Télévisions that La Zarra will represent France at the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. La Zarra reaction to the annoucement: 'I …
As we continue our weekly series Around The Continent, we will discuss the news and tell the story of each country's preparation for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. General …
"ESC TOP 250" 2022: Results and Analysis
For the 14th year in a row, ESC Radio suggests to Eurovision fans a wonderful way to close the year with a music parade that's …
As we continue our weekly series Around The Continent, we will discuss the news and tell the story of each country's preparation for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. Albina …
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France is the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022 winner
Many tout France's win as unexpected but for Lissandro, it is his greatest moment yet.
Junior Eurovision 2022, NEWS, Remixes
Review: Junior Eurovision 2022
16 countries will compete this time in the "Junior Eurovision Song Contest".Armenia is the host country this year. In this article, we will give a …
Complete guide to Junior Eurovision 2022, everything you need to know
This year's Junior Eurovision is set to be the 20th edition of the show. It is set to take place in Yerevan, Armenia, on 11th …
JESC 2022: Watch the official music video of French entry Lisandro's ""Oh Maman!"
The official music video for the French entry at the Junior Eurovision 2022 has been released.This year France will be represented by Lissandro. "Oh Maman!" …
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Having 'normalised' Brockley Cross and Lewisham Way with persistent targeted raids and interventions, local police now have the junction of Brockley and Wickham Roads in their sights.
In recent weeks, the police have contacted local residents asking for witnesses to reported cases of anti-social behaviour and drug dealing in the area while last week, police were conducting a large scale stop and search operation in the same spot.
This kind of action eventually succeeded in reducing violent crime in Brockley Cross - which used to serve up gang-related incidents on a regular basis each summer - and the police must hope to pull off the same trick here.
I'm looking forward to seeing the change. There's that one convenience store next to the Thai restaurant that used to be quiet but a few months ago groups of teenagers on bikes started hanging around there most of the day and night.
Spit, listen to crap music on their phones, cycle on the pavements, scare pensioners like Martin and talk loudly in an unfathomable dialect? Bring back borstal.
The groups of teenages hanging outside the convenience stores on Brockley Road up from Wickham Road, unfortunately, are causing problems. Speak to any of the store owners, especially the one that opens to the early hours of the morning and they will tell you what has been going on.
Kids hanging around are almost always up to no good, in some guise. Do you ever walk past loitering chav youths who are being polite, offer to help old ladies cross the street, tidy up stray litter or some such? No, they're hanging about looking for something to excite them because they're bored and their brains are shriveled from video games, crap TV and cheap booze/cigarettes. Oh, and legal/illegal highs.
they're not really obligated to be polite or help old ladies cross the street. most adults don't tidy up/help old ladies/do politeness and everybody seems ok with that. Until the kid has his hands in your pocket or his spit is on your jacket, they're just as entitled to be there as you are.
I wasn't saying they're obliged to be polite etc, more that those youths loitering outside shops are most often up to trouble. You don't tend to find them having a positive influence on the public realm. Just like the adults that hang around outside shops/betting joints guzzling Super T, chaining king sizes, swearing and spitting etc.
We are all obligated to be polite.
Well, I feel relieved that, as the replies below state, the young people are just having high jinx outside the shops at night, so nothing to get concerned about.
They did smoke weed in the evening. But that wasn't my main concern. It really started suddenly - from a sleepy convenience store to a social club for 16-20 year olds who were hanging around there for no apparent reason. They were blocking the street and I felt intimidated by them whenever I had to walk around them on the street - even though I'm male and in my 30s. Indeed the shop was closed today and I'm quite happy about that.
I think we are at best obliged not to be explicitly aggressive, but I suppose it's a matter of nuance and preference. I tend to be polite and even friendly even if my nature is more cynical than that. But I can't hold it against someone who's "not nice".
I contacted the Ladywell Community Police twice and left a message on their answer phone about drug takers and drug transactions/dealers right outside my house and they never bothered to get back to me to investigate so I don't think the Police really care?!
True. We agree. We've just been reviewing the interactions on this site. You have been particularly nasty and unnecessary in your comments towards us.
The Lewisham Peoples' Day thread your approach as the moderator, encouraged others to lay into us. Your replies are always treating with us suspicion, as if 'we're up to something'. All we're trying to do, it to get people to challenge the story that our community should face cut backs.
We've seen a government continually promote the idea that cuts are necessary, cuts are a choice, we want people; 'people power' to ask the government to make different choices. That is what the demos, rallies, are about. That is all.
People power sounds a bit Bolshi to me. No wonder why Nick doesn't like you.
"Terrence Trent Derby"?? Update yourself - Satander Maitreaya maybe? (That's about as close as we'll get to 'trolling ' on here!
"You have been particularly nasty and unnecessary in your comments towards us."
Challenging and critical is not the same thing as nasty and unnecessary - perhaps you could quote me, rather than make vague accusations.
"The Lewisham Peoples' Day thread your approach as the moderator, encouraged others to lay into us."
I've just had a look - and no I didn't. Again, quotes please.
"Your replies are always treating with us suspicion, as if 'we're up to something'"
No, I find you massively disingenuous and I get irritated by your Fox News-style rhetorical approach: "hey, I'm not saying it's my opinion - I'm just saying it's interesting someone else is saying it, etc"
I also know you to be a liar, who denies your links to People Before Profit and many other local groups, despite using the same IP address to post from related accounts. I don't mind you having multiple identities, but that's not cool.
After several quiet days, they're back this evening outside Gogi's, including two small boys that no one seems to supervise.
Time is a flat circle - now with Instagram!


Michele Bangsboll and Nick Anderson's wedding day was absolutely purr-fect.
The couple, who are both veterinarians and cat lovers, had two very special feline wedding guests by the names of Jeeves and Houdini at their March 25 nuptials at Spruce Mountain Ranch in Larkspur, Colorado.
The bride wore a vintage-inspired faux fur to keep warm.
Both kitties are rescues from Divine Feline in Denver, Colorado, where the couple volunteers in their free time.
The couple posed with the kitties during their bridal portrait session after the ceremony. And can we just say that they are exceedingly photogenic?
Only the bride and groom knew about the fur-tastic surprise.
Jeeves and Houdini will be looking for forever homes in a few weeks, once they are big enough to be neutered.
The wedding party posing with the fur babies.
The cake topper featured the couple, their two cats and dog.
Each table was named after a different animal.
Shoes by BOBS, a company that donates millions each year to pets in shelters.
Michele and Nick first met in 2011 during their first semester of veterinary school at St. Matthew's University on Grand Cayman Island. While they were there, they adopted two cats named Bam-Bam and Wiggles from a local shelter.
For more information on Divine Feline, you can visit their website. Below, more photos from the couple's big day.


Completed 1st round for projects, validating the 2nd phase: The second funding and support round recently ended for Tuderechoasaber (150%), Bookcamping (150%) y Nodo Móvil (149%). The percentage shows that they have reached a sum way over the minimum needed and, although we have to make improvements, we believe that this validates the need for this additional period. Freedonia (164%) and Infinit Loop (104%) are now in the 2nd phase and we hope that more of thenew projects will be joining them shortly.
Campaigns, coverage and reach: We are progressively opening project campaigns and learning from their evolution, even those that don't reach their objective. There are various ongoing conversations about great projects to present, but our capacity is still limited, and besides, no-one ever said that thisopen crowdfunding would be easy: objectives, needs which are not only monetary, collective returns, ability to create buzz and other factors must be taken into consideration.
First node shortly, talking to more: We are meeting with the ColaBoraBora Team for some intensive work sessions to launch the first Goteo node, which will shortly be unveiled in the Basque Country. This will be the first of the autonomous Goteo platforms, which we are also working on for other places.
Workshops in Berlin, English interface: The crowdfunding workshop, based on the research by Goteo continues, adapting to the needs of collectives and organizations interested in the commons. One of the next workshops will take place from February 22-26 in Berlin as part of the Citizen Art Days, once the platform and projects are almost 100% translated into English.
Finishing improvements to the interface and code: Another of the things we've been working on lately is the improvement to the platform and new modules to visualize contributions and specific campaigns, which we'll be launching soon. Afterwards we'll be preparing the code to release it under an AGPL License. We'll also be starting to talk to collectives and initiatives interested in adapting it and contributing to development.
And, if after reading all this you still haven't contributed to Goteo...leave a comment or give support! Comment on this post or support a project that interests you from those need your contribution right now.


text:
\section{Introduction}

LaMnO$_3$, the mother compound of colossal magneto-resistance (CMR) phenomena, is a prototypical material in which charge, spin, orbital and lattice degree of freedom are strongly coupled thereby producing a rich phase diagram \cite{salamon_physics_2001,dagotto_notitle_2003,chatterji_notitle_2004,dagotto_open_2005,tokura_critical_2006,khomskii_notitle_2014}. Bulk LaMnO$_3$ is an A-type antiferromagnetic (A-AFM) insulator with $d_{x^2}$/$d_{y^2}$-like orbital order. Its orthorhombic crystal structure has both GdFeO$_3$-type and cooperative Jahn-Teller distortions. After the celebrated observation of CMR \cite{von_helmolt_giant_1993, jin_thousandfold_1994}, LaMnO$_3$ has been a focus of tremendous research activities from various viewpoints \cite{loa_pressure-induced_2001,fuhr_pressure-induced_2008,baldini_persistence_2011,sherafati_percolative_2016, saitoh_observation_2001, ahn_effects_2000, tobe_anisotropic_2001, quijada_temperature_2001,kovaleva_spin-controlled_2004,kim_origin_2004,kovaleva_low-energy_2010,moskvin_interplay_2010,nanda_magnetic_2010,pavarini_origin_2010,flesch_orbital-order_2012}. Recently thin-film and heterostructure forms of LaMnO$_3$ have generated new excitements and possibilities \cite{smadici_electronic_2007, zhai_new_2010,garcia-barriocanal_charge_2010,garcia-barriocanal_spin_2010,gibert_exchange_2012,lee_charge_2013,di_pietro_spectral_2015,wang_imaging_2015,peng_restoring_2016,anahory_emergent_2016,chen_electron_2017} while their intriguing  behaviors driven by introducing charge carriers and/or controlling the dimensionality still need careful investigations \cite{dagotto_notitle_2003,chatterji_notitle_2004,dagotto_open_2005,tokura_critical_2006,khomskii_notitle_2014,chakhalian_colloquium_2014,bhattacharya_magnetic_2014}.

A great number of first-principles studies have been devoted to this fascinating material for the last two decades \cite{sarma_band_1995,satpathy_electronic_1996,satpathy_densityfunctional_1996,solovyev_$mathitt_2mathitg$_1996,pickett_electronic_1996,solovyev_crucial_1996,sawada_jahn-teller_1997,singh_pseudogaps_1998,sawada_orbital_1998,hu_jahn-teller_2000,su_electronic_2000,elfimov_orbital_1999,hu_jahn-teller_2000,benedetti_ab_2001,ravindran_ground-state_2002,zenia_orbital_2005,evarestov_comparative_2005, yin_orbital_2006, hashimoto_jahn-teller_2010,franchini_maximally_2012,uba_electronic_2012,lee_strong_2013,hou_intrinsic_2014,mellan_importance_2015,an_appearance_2017}. While it is certainly true that first-principles calculations contributed a lot to understanding LaMnO$_3$ and related phenomena, the fully {\it ab-initio} description is still far from  being satisfactory. Calculating the correct magnetic ground state and electronic structures have proven to be non-trivial \cite{satpathy_electronic_1996, solovyev_crucial_1996, sawada_orbital_1998, su_electronic_2000, hashimoto_jahn-teller_2010,mellan_importance_2015, kovacik_combined_2016}. For example, the microscopic origin of the A-AFM ground state and the electronic nature of its gap have been under debate. The difficulty largely arises from the technical challenges such as the determination of interaction parameters and double-counting terms when it uses DFT$+U$-type of method which has been a main workhorse in the theoretical study. Recently, a series of  investigations provided a clear understanding of the difference in between DFT$+U$ formalisms \cite{chen_density_2015,park_density_2015,chen_spin-density_2016,ryee_comparative_2017}. In this context, it is important to re-establish the $ab$-$initio$ approach for this classical material and its consequences.

In the present work, we re-examine LaMnO$_3$ within DFT$+U$ framework. In particular, we take note that all of the previous calculations have been based on the spin-density functional theory (SDFT) while the recent investigations report its unphysical nature largely coming from double countings. From a comparative study, we show that CDFT (spin un-polarized charge density functional theory)$+U$ can resolve the unphysical behavior found in SDFT$+U$. CDFT$+U$ calculation with the interaction parameters obtained from cRPA (constrained random phase approximation) is successful for describing the electronic structure and magnetic property. We also estimate the magnetic exchange coupling constant $J$ based on the CDFT$+U$ electronic structure and the response theory. It is shown that the A-AFM spin ground state is well stabilized only by nearest-neighbor interactions which is in contrast to a part of previous studies. Furthermore, our orbital-resolved $J$ calculations show that the $e_g$-$t_{2g}$ excitation channel gives rise to a significant AFM interaction which has never been clearly noticed before.

\section{Computation Details}

We performed density functional theory plus Hubbard $U$ (DFT$+U$) \cite{anisimov_band_1991,liechtenstein_density-functional_1995} calculations within GGA (generalized gradient approximation) \cite{perdew_generalized_1996}. Throughout the manuscript `SDFT' and `CDFT' is used in referring to spin and charge (spin-unpolarized) density functional scheme, respectively \cite{ryee_comparative_2017}. Thus SDFT$+U$ and CDFT$+U$ refers to the spin-polarized GGA $+U$ and spin-unpolarized GGA$+U$, respectively. For more details regarding these formulations and their comparisons, see Ref.~\onlinecite{ryee_comparative_2017}. So-called `fully localized limit (FLL)' functional form is adopted \cite{anisimov_density-functional_1993,liechtenstein_density-functional_1995}, and $U=8.0$ eV and $J_H=0.5$ eV are used for La-$4f$ states. If not mentioned otherwise, the crystal structure is fixed to the experimental structure \cite{elemans_crystallographic_1971}. All of the electronic structure and total energy calculations were carried out with {\tt `OpenMX'} software package \cite{openmx} which is based on localized pseudo-atomic orbitals (LCPAO). Vanderbilt-type norm-conserving pseudopotentials \cite{vanderbilt_soft_1990} with partial-core corrections \cite{louie_nonlinear_1982} were used to replace the deep core potentials. Three $s$, two $p$, two $d$, and one $f$ orbitals were taken as a basis set for La. Three $s$, two $p$, and one $d$ orbitals were used for Mn. Two $s$, two $p$, and one $d$ orbitals for O. $9\times9\times9$ Monkhorst-Pack $k$-point mesh was used. The geometrical optimization is further confirmed with plane-wave basis method, `{\tt VASP} (Vienna ab-initio simulation package)'.

In Sec.~III, the level splitting $\Delta$ is defined to represent the energy difference between the occupied and unoccupied orbitals. For a given orbital $\alpha$ and spin $\sigma$, the energy level of occupied states $E^{\rm{occ}}_{\alpha\sigma}$ is calculated by taking the center of mass position of projected density of states (PDOS):
\begin{align}
\begin{split}
E^{\rm{occ}}_{\alpha\sigma} = \frac{\int_{E_{f}-x}^{E_{f}}{Eg_{\alpha\sigma}(E){\rm d}E}}{\int_{E_{f}-x}^{E_{f}}{g_{\alpha\sigma}(E){\rm d}E}},\\
\end{split}
\end{align}
where $E_f$ and $g_{\alpha \sigma}(E)$ refers to the Fermi level and the calculated DOS, respectively. The minimum integration range of $E_f-x$ is chosen to include the antibonding Mn-$3d$ states only (excluding the bonding combinations). The presented results are from $x=1.8$ eV for $e_g$ and 4 eV for $t_{2g}$ states, respectively. Any of  our conclusion does not change by this choice even when the range is extended down to $-\infty$. Similarly, the unoccupied level is calculated by
\begin{align}
\begin{split}
E^{\rm{unocc}}_{\alpha\sigma} = \frac{\int_{E_{f}}^{\infty}{Eg_{\alpha\sigma}(E)dE}}{\int_{E_{f}}^{\infty}{g_{\alpha\sigma}(E)dE}},\\
\end{split}
\end{align}
and $\Delta$ is then given by $E^{\rm{unocc}}_{\alpha\sigma_{1}}-E^{\rm{occ}}_{\beta\sigma_{2}}$.

cRPA (constrained random phase approximation) \cite{aryasetiawan_frequency-dependent_2004,sasioglu_effective_2011}  calculation was performed to estimate the interaction parameters by using  `{\tt ecalj}' software package \cite{ecalj-1}. For cRPA, we used the cubic structure with lattice constant of $a=3.934$ $\rm{\AA}$ which yields the same volume with the experimental orthorhombic structure. The unphysical screening channels caused by low-lying La-$5d$ and La-$4f$ bands were removed. The $d$-$d$ screening near the Fermi energy is excluded based on so-called `$d$-$dp$ model' of MLWF (maximally localized Wannier function) technique \cite{vaugier_hubbard_2012,sakuma_first-principles_2013,amadon_screened_2014}.

The magnetic interaction, $J$, has been calculated based on magnetic force linear response theory (MFT) \cite{liechtenstein_local_1987} as extended to our non-orthogonal LCPAO method \cite{han_electronic_2004, yoon_reliability_2017}. Throughout the manuscript we used the following convention for spin Hamiltonian,
\begin{equation} \label{Eq_Heisenberg_spin_Hamiltonian}
H=-\sum_{i\neq j} J_{ij} {\bf e}_i\cdot{\bf e}_j
\end{equation}
where ${\bf e}_{i,j}$ refers to the unit spin vectors of atomic site $i$ and $j$.

\section{Result and Discussion}
\subsection{Magnetic phase diagram}

\begin{figure}[h]
	\begin{center}
		\includegraphics[width=0.49\textwidth,angle=0]{Figure-1.pdf}
		\caption{(Color online) The calculated magnetic phase diagram by (a) SDFT$+U$ and (b) CDFT$+U$. Yellow squares, red diamonds, and green circles show the data points corresponding to G-AFM, A-AFM, and ferromagnetic (FM) ground states spin orders, respectively.
			\label{Figure 1}}
	\end{center}
\end{figure}

Fig.~\ref{Figure 1}(a) and (b) shows the calculated magnetic phase diagram from SDFT$+U$ and CDFT+$U$, respectively. A remarkable difference is clearly noticed. In SDFT$+U$, G-AFM is stabilized in the small $U$ and large $J_H$ regime while FM is in large $U$ and small $J_H$. In CDFT$+U$, on the other hand, G-AFM is the ground state for the small $U$ and small $J_H$ values. In both phase diagrams, A-AFM order, the experimentally-known ground state, is located in between G-AFM and FM. Our cRPA estimation gives $U$=4.0 eV and $J_H$=0.7 eV, which yields the correct A-AFM ground state for both SDFT$+U$ and CDFT$+U$.

Here we note that the two widely-used standard formulations produce a quite different phase diagram for this classical material. In this regard, our result raises a serious question about the predictive power of current methodology. And in the below, we argue that CDFT$+U$ solution is physically more reliable being supported by a series of recent studies \cite{chen_density_2015,park_density_2015,chen_spin-density_2016,ryee_comparative_2017}. Notably, all of the previous DFT$+U$ calculations for bulk LaMnO$_3$ have adapted SDFT$+U$ to the best of our knowledge.

In order to understand the difference between the two formulations, we performed a systematic analysis whose results are summarized in Fig.~\ref{Figure 2}. First we define the orbital- and spin-dependent energy level splitting $\Delta$ (see Fig.~\ref{Figure 2}(a)).
For simplicity, we denote $\Delta_{e_{g\uparrow}-e_{g\uparrow}}$ by $\Delta_{\uparrow \uparrow}$, and $\Delta_{t_{2g\downarrow}-t_{2g\uparrow}}$,
$\Delta_{e_{g\downarrow}-t_{2g\uparrow}}$, and
$\Delta_{t_{2g\downarrow}-e_{g\uparrow}}$ by $\Delta_{\downarrow \uparrow}$,
Since the magnetic interactions are approximately given by these energy differences through
$J\sim t^2 / \Delta$ ($t$: hopping parameter), one can try to understand the phase diagrams in terms of these parameters. As clearly shown in Fig.~\ref{Figure 2}(b) and (c), the calculated $\Delta$ exhibits an opposite behavior as a function $J_H$. Namely, $\Delta_{\uparrow \uparrow}$ increases in SDFT$+U$ and decreases in CDFT$+U$. $\Delta_{\downarrow \uparrow}$ decreases in SDFT$+U$ and increases in CDFT$+U$.

This observation provides useful information to assess two different functional fomulations. It is known that $\Delta_{e_{g\uparrow}-e_{g\uparrow}}\simeq U-3J_H+\Delta_{\rm{JT}}$ and $\Delta_{t_{2g\downarrow}-t_{2g\uparrow}} \simeq  U+5J_H/2$ where $\Delta_{\rm{JT}}$ is the Jahn-Teller splitting \cite{khaliullin_orbital_2005,oles_fingerprints_2005,kovaleva_low-energy_2010}. These expressions indicate that $\Delta_{e_{g\uparrow}-e_{g\uparrow}}$ and $\Delta_{t_{2g\downarrow}-t_{2g\uparrow}}$ should be reduced
and enlarged, respectively, as $J_H$ increases. Importantly, these features is only observed in CDFT$+U$ result of Fig.~\ref{Figure 2}(c).
Similarly, $\Delta_{e_{g\downarrow}-t_{2g\uparrow}}$ and $\Delta_{t_{2g\downarrow}-e_{g\uparrow}}$ can be expressed by $U+3J_H + \Delta_{\rm{CF}}$ \cite{excitation_energy_eg_t2g}
and $U+3J_H-\Delta_{\rm{CF}}$ \cite{excitation_energy_t2g_eg} where $\Delta_{\rm{CF}}$ is the crystal field splitting.
Both are expected to be enlarged as $J_H$ increases, which is in good agreement with CDFT$+U$ result.

\begin{figure}[!tp]
	\begin{center}
		\includegraphics[width=0.49\textwidth,angle=0]{Figure-2.pdf}
		\caption{(Color online) (a) A schematic DOS near Fermi energy. The upper and lower panel represents the up and down spin states, respectively. The four major excitations of $e_{g\downarrow}$-$t_{2g\uparrow}$, $t_{2g\downarrow}$-$t_{2g\uparrow}$,  , $t_{2g\downarrow}$-$e_{g\uparrow}$, and $e_{g\uparrow}$-$e_{g\uparrow}$, are depicted by arrows. (b, c) The calculated $\Delta$ as a function of Hund $J_H$ by (b) SDFT$+U$ and (c) CDFT$+U$.
			\label{Figure 2}}
	\end{center}
\end{figure}

The calculated $\Delta$ provides further understanding of magnetic transitions. Charge excitations in between $t_{2g\downarrow}$ and $t_{2g\uparrow}$ lead to the AFM interaction \cite{dagotto_notitle_2003,chatterji_notitle_2004, solovyev_crucial_1996, ishihara_effective_1997, oles_fingerprints_2005, solovyev_long-range_2009}, and the  enlarged $\Delta_{t_{2g\downarrow}-t_{2g\uparrow}}$ reduces the AFM coupling strength through $J\sim t^2 / \Delta$.
Similarly, the reduced $\Delta_{e_{g\uparrow}-e_{g\uparrow}}$ enhances the FM interaction. Traditionally these two are believed to be the main magnetic interactions in LaMnO$_3$, and therefore our results in Fig.~\ref{Figure 2}(c) is consistent with the AFM-to-FM transition  in Fig.~\ref{Figure 1}(b) as a function of $J_H$.
The transition from G-AFM to A-AFM order is related to the cooperative Jahn-Teller distortion and the orbital order. Due to the $d_{x^2}$/$d_{y^2}$-like orbital order in the $xy$ plane, the $e_g$-$e_g$ hopping, responsible for FM order, is stronger within $xy$ plane than along $z$ direction.

Another interesting feature found by comparing two phase diagrams in Fig.~\ref{Figure 1} is the calculated magnetic moment at Mn site. Although the size of moment changes is not significant, SDFT$+U$ and CDFT$+U$ exhibit an opposite trend. With a fixed $U$ value of 4.0 eV for example, the Mn moment is reduced from 3.77 to 3.68 $\mu_{B}$ as $J_H$ increases from 0.3 to 0.9 eV in SDFT$+U$. In CDFT$+U$, on the other hand, it is gradually increased from 3.30 to 3.69 $\mu_{B}$. This behavior is consistent with the opposite trend of $\Delta_{\downarrow\uparrow}$ shown in Fig.\ref{Figure 2}(b) and (c).

\begin{figure}[t]
	\begin{center}
		\includegraphics[width=0.48\textwidth,angle=0]{Figure-3.pdf}
		\caption{(Color online) (a--c) The calculated DOS corresponding to the A-AFM ground state spin order. cRPA values of $U$=4.0 and $J_H$=0.7 eV were used. The gray, red, blue, violet, and green colors represent the total DOS (divided by 4 for presentation), Mn-$d_{x^2/y^2}$, Mn-$d_{x^2-z^2/y^2-z^2}$, Mn-$t_{2g}$, and O-$2p$ states, respectively. The zero energy corresponds to the Fermi level (vertical dashed line).
			\label{Figure 3}}
	\end{center}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Electronic structure and lattice optimization}

The calculated electronic structure is presented in Fig.~\ref{Figure 3}. We once again emphasize that this is the first band structure report for LaMnO$_3$ calculated by CDFT$+U$ since all previous calculations were performed within SDFT$+U$ formalism  \cite{satpathy_electronic_1996,satpathy_densityfunctional_1996,solovyev_$mathitt_2mathitg$_1996,sawada_jahn-teller_1997,sawada_orbital_1998,elfimov_orbital_1999,hu_jahn-teller_2000,benedetti_ab_2001,ravindran_ground-state_2002,medvedeva_orbital_2002,trimarchi_structural_2005,yin_orbital_2006,ederer_structural_2007,hashimoto_jahn-teller_2010,franchini_maximally_2012,uba_electronic_2012,lee_strong_2013,hou_intrinsic_2014,mellan_importance_2015,kovacik_combined_2016}. The magnetic moment $\mu_{\textrm {Mn}}$=3.62$\mu_B$ and the gap $\Delta_{\textrm{gap}}$=1.1 eV are in good agreement with experimental values; $\mu^{\textrm{exp}}_{\textrm {Mn}}$=$3.7\pm0.1\mu_B$  \cite{elemans_crystallographic_1971}, $\Delta^{\textrm{exp}}_{\textrm{gap}}$=1.1 eV \cite{arima_variation_1993} and 1.7 eV \cite{saitoh_electronic_1995}.
The C-type $d_{x^2}$/$d_{y^2}$ orbital order with $(\pi,\pi,0)$ ordering vector is also well reproduced. The lowest excitation is of $d$-$d$ character which supports the recent theoretical and experimental studies \cite{kovaleva_spin-controlled_2004,kovaleva_low-energy_2010,moskvin_interplay_2010}. If we use the significantly large $U\sim$ 8.0--10.1 eV obtained from constrained LDA (cLDA) \cite{satpathy_electronic_1996,solovyev_$mathitt_2mathitg$_1996}, the gap becomes a charge-transfer type as reported in a previous SDFT$+U$ study \cite{satpathy_electronic_1996}.

\begin{figure}[t]

	\includegraphics[width=0.48\textwidth,angle=0]{Figure-4.pdf}
	\caption{(Color online) (a, b) The magnetic exchange couplings in LaMnO$_3$. The in-plane and out-of-plane first-neighbor interactions are denoted by $J_{x,y}$ and $J_z$, respectively. The second neighbor couplings are denoted by $J_{xy}$ (in-plane), $J_{yz}$ (in-plane), and $J_{zx}$ (out-of-plane).}
	\label{Figure 4}

\end{figure}

Even if CDFT$+U$ provides a quite reasonable description of electronic property, it is still challenging to describe LaMnO$_3$ within the fully first-principles framework. Note that in the above the experimental lattice structure has been used. We found that the lattice optimized within CDFT$+U$ along with cRPA parameters overestimate the lattice constants and the volume by about 1--5$\%$ in comparison to experiments. The Mn-O-Mn bond angle and the orthorhombicity \cite{lee_strong_2013} is underestimated and overestimated, respectively. The similar amount of differences are also found in SDFT$+U$ result with cRPA parameters. The previous studies have been struggling with this same issue
\cite{solovyev_$mathitt_2mathitg$_1996,sawada_jahn-teller_1997,sawada_orbital_1998,hashimoto_jahn-teller_2010,mellan_importance_2015}. Due to the strong spin-charge-orbital and lattice couplings in this material, the fully self-consistent calculation for both structural and electronic property becomes quite challenging. We presume that the difficulty is largely attributed to the cRPA process which is separated from other part of the self-consistent calculation and conducted at a given lattice geometry.

\subsection{Magnetic interactions}

\subsubsection{The role of second-neighbor interactions}

Magnetic interactions in LaMnO$_3$ have long been an issue of debate particularly for the second-neighbor interaction strength.
In Ref.~\onlinecite{su_electronic_2000,evarestov_comparative_2005,solovyev_long-range_2009, franchini_maximally_2012,lee_strong_2013,hou_intrinsic_2014,mellan_importance_2015} it is argued that only the nearest-neighbor interactions ({\it i.e.,} $J_{x}$, $J_y$ and $J_z$ in Fig.~\ref{Figure 4}(a)) are important to stabilize the A-AFM order. The second neighbor $J_{zx}$ and $J_{yz}$ (see Fig.\ref{Figure 4}(a)) were either neglected or found to be small. In Ref.~\onlinecite{solovyev_$mathitt_2mathitg$_1996,solovyev_crucial_1996,kovacik_combined_2016}, on the other hand, these second neighbor interactions were claimed to play the key role in stabilizing the ground state spin order. Here we note that many different computation approaches and their combinations have been considered previously. The MFT calculation, based on LSDA (local spin-density approximation; $U$=0) spin density, and the total energy calculations, based on hybrid functional, support the significance of second-neighbor interactions \cite{solovyev_$mathitt_2mathitg$_1996,solovyev_crucial_1996,kovacik_combined_2016}. On the contrary, the total energy calculations based on {\it ab-initio} Hartree-Fock approximation reports the negligible contribution from $J_{zx}$ and $J_{yz}$ \cite{su_electronic_2000}. It is noted that each of these techniques can give a different answer for the electronic structure. For example, {\it ab-initio} Hartree-Fock produces the charge-transfer type band gap while LSDA does the Mott-Hubbard type \cite{solovyev_$mathitt_2mathitg$_1996,solovyev_crucial_1996}. With hybrid functional, a reasonable size of Mott-Hubbard gap is reproduced \cite{kovacik_combined_2016}. In this case, however, they reported that a different conclusion can be reached depending on the choices of metastable spin orders \cite{kovacik_combined_2016}.

Here we performed MFT calculation based on our CDFT$+U$ electronic structure calculated by cRPA parameters. Our result clearly shows that the second-neighbor interactions, $J_{zx}$ and $J_{yz}$, are not essential for stabilizing the A-AFM spin order. The in-plane first neighbor interaction is FM, $J_{x}=J_{y}=1.33$ meV, while the out-of-plane is AFM, $J_{z}=-0.94$ meV. The calculated $J_{xz}=J_{yz}=-0.27$ meV is AFM corresponding to 20\% and 29\% of $J_x$ and $J_z$, respectively. It is important to note that even without these interactions ($J_{zx}=J_{yz}=0$) the same ground state spin order is stabilized. The in-plane second-neighbor interaction is small enough; $J_{xy}=-0.04$ (along the short-distance $a$-axis direction) and $-0.17$ meV (along the long-distance $b$-axis direction).

\subsubsection{The orbital-decomposed results}

The magnetic orders and their phase transitions in manganites have been studied from the point of view of the competition between FM $e_g$-$e_g$ and AFM $t_{2g}$-$t_{2g}$ interactions \cite{dagotto_notitle_2003,chatterji_notitle_2004,solovyev_crucial_1996,feiner_electronic_1999,yunoki_ferromagnetic_2000,hotta_unveiling_2003,oles_fingerprints_2005,lin_theoretical_2008}. For instance, in the undoped LaMnO$_3$, a strong FM $e_{g}$-$e_{g}$ coupling wins over the in-plane ($xy$ plane) AFM $t_{2g}$-$t_{2g}$ coupling while it is weaker along $z$ direction largely due to the orbital order. This interaction profile provides a reasonable picture for the A-AFM spin ground state. From our calculation of orbitally-decomposed magnetic interactions \cite{yoon_reliability_2017}, the $J_{e_g{\textrm -}e_g}$ is indeed found to be FM; $J_{e_g{\textrm -}e_g}$=4.66 and 2.32 meV within the $xy$ plane and the out-of-plane, respectively (see Table~\ref{Table 1}). $J_{t_{2g}{\textrm -}t_{2g}}$ is AFM; $-1.56$ and $-3.03$ meV for the in- and out-of-plane, respectively. Our result is therefore consistent with the prevailing current understanding.

It is remarkable to see the significant AFM $J_{e_{g}{\textrm -}t_{2g}}$ couplings in the sense that this inter-orbital interaction has largely been ignored in the previous studies \cite{dagotto_notitle_2003,chatterji_notitle_2004,millis_cooperative_1996, ishihara_effective_1997, ahn_effects_2000, yunoki_ferromagnetic_2000, popovic_cooperative_2000, hotta_unveiling_2003, kovaleva_spin-controlled_2004, oles_fingerprints_2005, khaliullin_orbital_2005,kovaleva_low-energy_2010,sherafati_percolative_2016,snamina_spin-orbital_2018}. Our calculation shows that the in-plane $e_g$-$t_{2g}$ interaction $J_{x,y}$($e_g$-$t_{2g}$)=$-1.76$ meV is larger than $J_{x,y}$($t_{2g}$-$t_{2g}$)=$-1.56$ meV and $J_z$($e_g$-$t_{2g}$)=$-0.24$ meV. While the possibility of non-negligible $e_g$-$t_{2g}$ charge excitation was speculated in some literature \cite{solovyev_$mathitt_2mathitg$_1996, solovyev_long-range_2009,kovaleva_low-energy_2010}, our calculation provides a strong and quantitative evidence for that.

$J_{e_g{\textrm -}t_{2g}}$ interaction is not directionally symmetric. For example, while $J_{x}$ of Mn1($t_{2g}$)-Mn2($e_g$) is $-1.77$ meV, $J_{x}$ of Mn1($e_g$)-Mn2($t_{2g}$) is negligibly small (see Table \ref{Table 1}).  Due to the significant GdFeO$_3$-type distortion and orbital order, the hopping integrals between $e_g$ and $t_{2g}$ orbitals can be non-zero and the two Mn sites are no longer equivalent. This is clearly different from the case of CaMnO$_3$. As a $t_{2g}^3$ system, CaMnO$_3$ has no orbital order while it shares the GdFeO$_3$-type distortion with LaMnO$_3$. As a result,
the $e_g$-$t_{2g}$ interaction is negligible \cite{keshavarz_exchange_2017}. Our calculation shows that
the neglect of $e_g$-$t_{2g}$ coupling in LaMnO$_3$ can be an oversimplification \cite{ishihara_effective_1997,lin_theoretical_2008}.

Our new finding of significant $e_g$--$t_{2g}$ AFM coupling has significant implication for understanding the rich phase diagram and their transitions. It is also important for the study of manganite surfaces, interfaces and thin films where the different coordination and crystal field can significantly change the magnetic interaction profiles \cite{wang_imaging_2015,anahory_emergent_2016,peng_restoring_2016,chen_electron_2017}. In the sense that the inter-orbital  couplings can even be manipulated by strain for example \cite{ahn_effects_2000,lee_strong_2013,loa_pressure-induced_2001,fuhr_pressure-induced_2008,baldini_persistence_2011,sherafati_percolative_2016}, it can have an implication for applications.

\begin{table}[t]
	\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.3}
	\begin{tabular}{ c  c | c c | c c | c c}
		\hline \hline
		&\ \ & \multicolumn{2}{c|}{\ \ Mn2 : $J_{x}$ } & \multicolumn{2}{c|}{\ \ Mn2 : $J_{y}$ } & \multicolumn{2}{c}{\ \ Mn3 : $J_{z}$ }  \\
		&\ \    &\ \ $e_{g}$ &\ \ $t_{2g}$ 	&\ \ $e_{g}$ &\ \ $t_{2g}$ &\ \ $e_{g}$ &\ \ $t_{2g}$  \\
		\hline
		Mn1 &\ \ $e_{g}$	&\ \ 4.66  &\ \ 0.01	&\ \ 4.66  &\ \ $-$1.77  &\ \ 2.32 &\ \ $-$0.12	\\
		&\ \ $t_{2g}$ &\ \ $-$1.77  &\ \ $-$1.56 &\ \ 0.01  &\ \ $-$1.56  &\ \ $-$0.12  &\ \ $-$3.03	 \\
		\hline \hline

	\end{tabular}
	\caption{The calculation results of orbital-decomposed nearest-neighbor $J$. For the definition of $J_{x}$, $J_{y}$ and $J_{z}$, see Fig.\ref{Figure 3}. The unit is meV.}
	\label{Table 1}
\end{table}

\section{Summary}
We revisit a classical CMR material, LaMnO$_3$, within DFT$+U$ method. While all the previous calculations were based on SDFT$+U$, the current study clearly shows that the use of charge-only density is crucial to properly describe the electronic structure and magnetic property. It is found that the nearest-neighbor interactions are enough to stabilize the A-AFM spin ground state contrary to a part of previous studies. The  orbital-resolved $J$ calculation shows that $e_g$-$t_{2g}$ interaction is quite significant.

\section{Acknowledgments}
This work was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education(2017R1D1A1B03032082).

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