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by Ken Shapiro Last updated: 9:00 PM ET, Thu August 28, 2025 (Photo Credit: JTB Corp.)Northstar Travel Group, a leading B2B travel industry events, media and information services company, today announced that JTB Corp., one of Japan’s leading travel solutions providers, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Northstar from investment funds managed by EagleTree Capital and its co-investors. As part of the transaction, Northstar will operate as a wholly-owned, independent subsidiary of JTB and will continue to be led by its existing management team, including Chief Executive Officer Jason Young. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.Northstar operates iconic…

by Sarah Kuta Last updated: 7:00 AM ET, Fri August 29, 2025 New ships, major leadership changes and several high-profile incidents made headlines for the cruise industry this month. Below, some of the biggest stories you might have missed from August 2025.Norwegian Cruise Line President David Herrera Steps DownIn a major leadership shakeup, David Herrera, the president of Norwegian Cruise Line, left the company on August 20. Harry Sommer, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, took over Herrera’s day-to-day duties on an interim basis until a replacement can be found. The company revealed the news in…

TILBURG, Netherlands (AP) — The southern Dutch city of Tilburg is seeing more color than usual this weekend, as thousands of redheads from all over the world gather in the Netherlands for a once-a-year festival to celebrate their flaming locks.The 2025 edition of the Redhead Days festival includes music, food trucks and workshops tailored to particular needs of redheads, from makeup explainers to skin cancer prevention. Organizers expect the three-day event to draw several thousand attendees from some 80 countries.Elounda Bakker, a Dutch festival veteran of 15 years, played cards with a group of redheaded friends from across the world…

I recently moved to a new apartment, and unfortunately, the television didn’t make the cut during the amicable roommate split. While my studio isn’t as cramped as my previous living situations, fitting a bulky TV into the living area still felt impractical to me.  In my search for a suitable alternative, a startup called Lumi Labs reached out about testing its new portable projector, the Lumi Max. From the moment I unboxed it, I was impressed by how far projectors have come since my college days, when I struggled with a dingy one passed down from a friend that projected…

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an afternoon’s walk through ground zero of Americana — the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History — objects around every corner invite one question: What could possibly be more American than this?What could be more American than that enormous Star-Spangled Banner in all its timeworn glory? Or more American than Dorothy’s ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz”? And what could be more American than a reckoning with the nation’s sins, as illustrated by shackles representing slavery and photos of Japanese Americans confined to detention camps in World War II? It’s in authoritarian countries, like Russia,…

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has positioned itself for significant growth in the trans-Atlantic market with year-round service between Amsterdam Schiphol and Portland International Airport. The route, which began October 27, 2024, represents more than just another destination—it showcases a carefully orchestrated strategy that leverages the airline’s strengths while addressing evolving passenger demands.The Portland service operates three times weekly during winter months and operates five times weekly through late October 2025 utilizing Boeing 787-9 with premium and economy class seats. While KLM’s premium suites are not available on the Portland route, the airline’s Premium Comfort offering provides a comfortable option that…

Thoughts and prayers.The invocation appears like a litany after every mass shooting — and the backlash is just as inevitable.As if the slaughter of children amid screams and shattered stained glass wasn’t cause enough for grief, American opinion makers were convulsed once again this week in a debate over the role of prayer in the wake of a mass shooting, this time at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.Those who support some legal restrictions on guns, often Democrats, say that Republican politicians who appeal to prayer are trying to distract from their own inaction on such things as red flag laws…

Semma restaurant in New York, NY. Courtesy: Steven HallExecutive Chef Vikas Khanna has plated hundreds of thousands of dinners over the past 20 years — and he’s seen firsthand just how much Indian cuisine has evolved in the U.S.Khanna, a world-renowned Indian restaurateur, created Junoon, his high-end Indian restaurant in New York City, more than a decade ago to wade deeper into sophisticated Indian dining, ultimately earning a Michelin star for the restaurant — one of the first Indian restaurants to earn the distinction.As an immigrant in a post-9/11 America, Khanna said his bosses early in his career had been…

It’s only been since June that Meta invested $14.3 billion in the data-labeling vendor Scale AI, bringing on CEO Alexandr Wang and several of the startup’s top executives to run Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). But the relationship between the two companies is already showing signs of fraying. At least one of the executives Wang brought over to help run MSL — Scale AI’s former Senior Vice President of GenAI Product and Operations, Ruben Mayer — has departed Meta after just two months with the company, two people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.  Mayer spent roughly five years with Scale…

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Israel Peter was 6 years old when Boko Haram Islamic extremists attacked his village in northeastern Nigeria and his family fled. Eight years later, he still hasn’t returned to school.A rare opportunity to change that disappeared this year, when a nonprofit offering free education to Boko Haram victims rejected Peter’s application. It cited the abrupt loss of U.S. funding as the Trump administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development. Multiple backers of the school had received USAID funding.“Now my future will not be great,” said Peter, who dreams of being an engineer. His trembling voice…