Author: admin

In 2025, the US and Canadian markets accounted for nearly half of Rail Europe’s “sessions,” with travelers opting for multi-city trips, scenic routes and smaller destinations, the company said, noting that the trend points to the growing popularity of cultural experiences and traveling at a more leisurely travel pace.The most booked destinations for North American travelers included Barcelona, Brussels, Edinburgh, Florence, London, Madrid, Paris, Rome and Vienna, which Rail Europe said underscores “the role of rail as one of the simplest and convenient ways to move between Europe’s major cultural centers –without the stress of airports or the limitations of…

Adobe is updating its AI video-generation app, Firefly, with a new video editor that supports precise prompt-based edits, as well as adding new third-party models for image and video generation, including Black Forest Labs’ FLUX.2 and Topaz Astra. Until now, Firefly only supported prompt-based generation, so you would have to recreate the entire clip if any part of the video was not to your liking. With the new editor, you can use text prompts to edit video elements, colors, and camera angles, and we also get a new timeline view that lets you adjust frames, sounds, and other characteristics easily.…

The IPO window may have cracked open, but it seems some former startups have no intention of going public. Makes sense, in a way: IPOs were traditionally a way to raise money, and if you can manage to raise ungodly amounts without having to put your company through public scrutiny, why do it? Databricks is proving that point: The data intelligence company has just raised more than $4 billion in a Series L funding round at a $134 billion valuation — up 34% from the $100 billion valuation that it achieved just three months ago. This is Databricks’ third major…

John Werner, center. (Photo Credit: Theresa Norton)John Werner, the longtime president of MAST Travel Network, will leave the consortium on Dec. 31, 2025. Warner launched his 25-year career with MAST as vice president of membership sales and business development and rose to the position of president and chief operating officer in May 2022.During his tenure at the organization, MAST “expanded to more than 205 member offices across 19 states, representing a network of 1,600 travel advisors,” the company said. “Under his leadership, the consortium’s preferred supplier portfolio also doubled, now encompassing over 100 partnerships spanning all segments of the travel…

Digantara, an Indian space surveillance startup, has raised $50 million in a new funding round as it moves beyond space situational awareness into missile tracking, citing growing demand from governments for space-based defense capabilities. The all-equity Series B round included new investors such as 360 ONE Asset and SBI Investment of Japan, as well as serial entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala, with existing backers Peak XV Partners and Kalaari Capital also participating. The funding comes more than two years after the startup’s $10 million Series A1 round, bringing its total capital raised to $64.5 million. Globally, governments are investing more heavily in…

A makeshift shrine of flowers and condolence cards has gone up outside of the Brown University building where a gunman killed two students and wounded nine others, with the Ivy League school and surrounding community trying to make sense of the tragedy.As investigators pursue clues about the gunman, who remained at large Tuesday after fleeing the scene of the Saturday shooting, new details emerged about the victims, with friends, former pastors and teachers speaking glowingly about the students who died, MukhammadAziz Umurzokov and Ella Cook.“Both were brilliant and beloved — as members of our campus community, but even more by…

The TSA says that starting next year, it will officially rescind the collective bargaining agreement it reached with its workforce in 2024. The agency has announced that a “new labor framework” will instead be put in place as of January 11, 2026.  The TSA says that the elimination of the agreement is based on a determination from Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem from September 2025 entitled “Eliminating Collective Bargaining at TSA Due to its Incompatibility with TSA’s National Security Mission and its Adverse Impact on Resources, Flexibility, Mission Focus, Security Effectiveness, and Traveler Experience.”The text of that determination was not…

The hacking group Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters, which includes members of a gang known as ShinyHunters, said it is attempting to extort porn site Pornhub, after claiming to have stolen personal information belonging to the website’s premium members.  On Friday, Pornhub confirmed it was among several companies affected by an earlier breach at the widely used web and mobile analytics provider Mixpanel, which exposed unspecified “analytics events” of some Pornhub Premium users. On Monday, Bleeping Computer reported seeing a sample of the stolen Pornhub data, which included personal information associated with Pornhub Premium members, including their registered email addresses and location;…

Close-up view of a gray Hermes Birkin bag in grained leather, during a photo shoot in Paris, Oct. 28, 2025.Edward Berthelot | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty ImagesDespite two recent blockbuster auctions for Birkin bags, overall auction prices for the iconic Hermès handbags are falling, according to a study.Earlier this month, a Birkin bag previously owned by Jane Birkin sold at Sotheby’s for $2.9 million, well above its high-end estimate of $440,000. The Black Box Birkin 40 with palladium hardware was signed by the actress, who owned the bag between 2003 and 2007. The auction followed the July sale of…

CCRA International, LLC acquired ABC Global Services, creating a formidable travel agency consortium program.Together, the two companies will “combine their strengths to support more than 9,000 travel agencies, more than 40,000 travel advisors, more than $7 billion in annual hotel sales and more than $275 million in air bookings,” CCRA said Dee Runyan will continue to serve as ABC’s president, reporting to Dic Marxen, CCRA’s CEO and president.“This acquisition marks a pivotal new chapter for the travel advisor community,” Marxen said. “Combining ABC’s global hotel and ground transportation offerings with CCRA’s air, accreditation, 24/7 call center agency support solutions and…