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by Lacey Pfalz Last updated: 9:05 AM ET, Fri August 22, 2025 Two wellness travel associations are partnering up to launch a new global initiative called Core Wellness Standards for Hotels, which operates as a guide to help hotels integrate wellness into every part of the hotel experience. The two organizations, Wellness in Travel & Tourism (WITT) and the Wellness Tourism Association (WTA), developed the guide with help from the WITT Standards Advisory Committee, which has over 100 certification criteria across five essential wellness pillars. The five pillars include healthy eating, holistic healing, nature, movement and local impact. Under each, hotels…

Social networking startup Bluesky has made the decision to block access to its service in the state of Mississippi, rather than comply with a new age assurance law. In a blog post published on Friday, the company explains that, as a small team, it doesn’t have the resources to make the substantial technical changes this type of law would require, and it raised concerns about the law’s broad scope and privacy implications. Mississippi’s HB 1126 requires platforms to introduce age verification for all users before they can access social networks like Bluesky. On Thursday, U.S. Supreme Court justices decided to…

It’s hard to find programmers these days who aren’t using AI coding assistants in some capacity, especially to write the repetitive, mundane bits. But those who refused to try the tools when Coinbase bought enterprise licenses for GitHub Copilot and Cursor got promptly fired, CEO Brian Armstrong said this week on John Collison’s podcast “Cheeky Pint.” (Collison is the co-founder and president of the payments company Stripe.) After getting licenses to cover every engineer, some at the cryptocurrency exchange warned Armstrong that adoption would be slow, predicting it would take months to get even half the engineers using AI.  Armstrong…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Friday it will not defend a decades-old grant program for colleges with large numbers of Hispanic students that is being challenged in court, declaring the government believes the funding is unconstitutional.In a memo sent to Congress, the Justice Department said it agrees with a lawsuit attempting to strike down grants that are reserved for colleges and universities where at least a quarter of undergraduates are Hispanic. Congress created the program in 1998 after finding Latino students were attending college and graduating at far lower rates than white students.Justice Department officials argued the program…

by Lacey Pfalz Last updated: 8:25 AM ET, Fri August 22, 2025 The American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA) and the American Bus Association (ABA) have entered into a new strategic trade agreement to help grow Indigenous tourism within the group travel sector in North America. Indigenous tourism is only expected to grow in importance. A 2024 World Travel & Tourism Council report estimated Indigenous tourism to generate $67 billion to the global economy by 2034, and Indigenous groups and organizations are uniting to promote this unique sector, like Destination Original Indigenous Tourism. “This collaboration represents a meaningful step toward…

Meta is partnering with Midjourney to license the startup’s AI image and video generation technology, Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang announced Friday in a post on Threads. Wang says Meta’s research teams will collaborate with Midjourney to bring its technology into future AI models and products. “To ensure Meta is able to deliver the best possible products for people it will require taking an all-of-the-above approach,” Wang said. “This means world-class talent, ambitious compute roadmap, and working with the best players across the industry.” The Midjourney partnership could help Meta develop products that compete with industry-leading AI image and…

Facebook Tweet Email Link Atlantic City, NJ  —  Almost every passenger carries lithium-ion batteries onto airplanes – in their phones, laptops, rechargeable powerpacks and even vapes. And when something goes wrong with one of them, Federal Aviation Administration tests show the results can be catastrophic. Delta Air Lines Flight 1334 was flying from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale last month when smoke and flames started pouring out of a backpack. The pilots declared an emergency and diverted to Fort Meyers where the 191 people onboard safely evacuated. The culprit was a passenger’s personal lithium-ion battery pack, which had been tucked away…

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched an investigation after a Delta Air Lines plane had part of one of its wings detach mid-flight this week.The scary incident occurred aboard a Boeing 737 during a flight from Orlando, Florida, to Austin, Texas, on Tuesday, August 19. Delta confirmed the incident in a statement to USA Today, acknowledging that Delta flight 1893 completed its trip, landing in Austin with “a portion of the left wing’s flap…not in place.””We apologize to our customers for their experience, as nothing is more important than the safety of our people and customers,” the airline added. …

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Principals this week in El Salvador began greeting students individually at school gates, not only to wish them “buenos días,” but also to inspect their haircuts and school uniforms.President Nayib Bukele has expanded his efforts to remake his country to students’ appearance as part of bringing discipline back to schools, once a recruiting ground for the country’s powerful gangs.His newly appointed education minister, Karla Trigueros, is an Army captain and physician who visits the country’s schools wearing fatigues. She sent a memo Monday to all school principals saying not only would they be held…

OpenAI has announced plans to open its first office in India, just days after launching a ChatGPT plan tailored for Indian users, as it looks to tap into the country’s rapidly growing AI market. On Friday, the company said it would set up a local team in India and open a corporate office in the capital, New Delhi, in the coming months. The move builds on OpenAI’s recent hiring efforts in the region. In April 2024, the company appointed former Truecaller and Meta executive Pragya Misra as its public policy and partnerships lead in India. OpenAI also brought on former…