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Runway has spent the past seven years building visual-generating tools for the creative industry. Now, it sees a new opportunity for its technology: robotics. New York-based Runway is known for its video and photo generation AI world models, or large language models that create a simulated version of the real world. Most recently, the company released Gen-4, its video-generating model, in March and Runway Aleph, its video editing model, in July. As Runway’s world models started to improve — and get more realistic — the company began to receive inbound interest from robotics and self-driving car companies looking to use the tech,…

by Lacey Pfalz Last updated: 1:00 PM ET, Sat August 30, 2025 Viking announced this week that it has taken delivery of its newest river ship, the purpose-built Viking Gyda, which will sail the Douro River in Portugal. A delivery ceremony was held at the West Sea shipyard in Viana do Castello, Portugal, where the river ship was constructed.  The Viking Gyda sails its first departure on September 4, sailing the 10-day Portugal’s River of Gold itinerary, which takes travelers from Lisbon to beautiful destinations including Porto, Salamanca and more. “With its rich history, culture and winemaking traditions, Portugal continues to be…

BOBRYK, Ukraine (AP) — Pupils were returning to schools in Ukraine on Monday for the start of the new academic year in the hope of being able to study safely under the shadow of Russia’s invasion.Since the start of the war, in February 2022, schools have found different ways to keep lessons going for pupils. In Bobryk, a village in northern Sumy region — not far from the front line — one school moved its classrooms entirely into a basement so students, whose education had already been impacted due to COVID lockdowns, could learn in person.“We must do everything so…

PANAMA CITY (AP) — For centuries, Panama served as a natural bridge for global trade. Mule trains hauled treasure over stone-paved trails, riverboats floated gold and silver down the Chagres River to Caribbean ports like Portobelo, guarded by the cannons of Fort San Lorenzo, and later, the world’s first transcontinental railroad ferried passengers and cargo from ocean to ocean. This photo journey looks back at the routes that carried the world across Panama’s isthmus long before the first lock opened in the Panama Canal.These crossings made Panama one of the world’s most strategic corridors long before engineers carved the canal.…

VENICE (AP) — Singer Halsey bid for the top lot at the amfAR Venezia fundraiser Sunday and spoke on the red carpet about how the charitable foundation’s work has helped her personally. Hosted by an impassioned Colman Domingo in a bright green custom Valentino jacket, the event took place at the Arsenale during the Venice Film Festival. More low key and intimate than it’s Cannes Film Festival counterpart, the event still attracted its share of celebrities including Jude Law, in Venice to promote “The Wizard of the Kremlin,” in which he stars as Putin.The evening started with champagne, canapés, Italian…

by Lacey Pfalz Last updated: 9:30 AM ET, Sat August 30, 2025 Spirit Aviation Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Spirit Airlines, has filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week after months of unprofitability, with plans for a major restructuring. This is the second time the airline has announced Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which it emerged from just this past March with a new budget and reorganization plan. It was the first U.S.-based airline to declare bankruptcy since 2011.  Earlier this summer, it announced plans to lay off 270 of its pilots and to demote 140 others to save money,…

Over the last several years, fusion power has gone from the butt of jokes — always a decade away! — to an increasingly tangible and tantalizing technology that has drawn investors off the sidelines. The technology may be challenging to master and expensive to build today, but fusion promises to harness the nuclear reaction that powers the sun to generate nearly limitless energy here on Earth. If startups are able to complete commercially viable fusion power plants, then they have the potential to upend trillion-dollar markets. The bullish wave buoying the fusion industry has been driven by three advances: more…

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday appointed economist and former Columbia University president Minouche Shafik as his chief economic adviser. It’s part of a staff shakeup aimed at strengthening the government’s response to a sluggish economy and a heated political debate over immigration.Starmer’s center-left Labour Party government has struggled to boost economic growth and curb inflation, leaving Treasury chief Rachel Reeves facing unpalatable choices about taxes and spending in her budget this fall.Shafik, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England, has held senior academic and civil service roles in Britain, and served a brief,…

WASHINGTON (AP) — John Hutton starts every White House portrait with an egg-shaped frame.He adds a nose, mouth, eyes and eyebrows, then outlines the face, guided by a series of horizontal and vertical lines through the oval. Hair comes next, followed by the neck and shoulders to add definition and make his paper renderings look like President George Washington or first lady Jacqueline Kennedy — or any of the other presidents and first ladies, including Donald Trump and Melania Trump.Hutton, a North Carolina art history professor who draws in his spare time, outlined his four-step technique in a new book,…

by Lacey Pfalz Last updated: 8:00 AM ET, Sat August 30, 2025 From newly updated travel advisories to Europe doing away with physical passport stamps, we’ve been covering all the destination news you need to know. Check out the biggest news impacting destinations from the United States to Asia you should know from August right here, and click the links provided to read the full stories. Travel Advisory Changes Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (photo via Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism)The U.S. Department of State updated travel advisories for those heading to two different countries this past month. It reissued its…