Author: admin

by Eric Bowman Last updated: 11:20 AM ET, Fri August 15, 2025 The new world’s largest cruise ship now has a new Godmother.Astronaut, author, and science communicator Kellie Gerardi will replace Diana Ross, who had to step down from the role last week due to unforeseen circumstances. Royal Caribbean President and CEO Michael Bayley announced the decision during a media press conference here onboard Star of the Seas. Bayley spoke about how the company acted quickly in finding a replacement, focusing on what is at the core of the new cruise ship.“[Star of the Seas] is like another level of…

Facebook Tweet Email Link Kyiv, Ukraine  —  It was not the applause, or the red carpet, or the ride in the Beast, or speaking first on the podium, that were the biggest gifts offered up to Vladimir Putin at the Alaska summit. President Donald Trump’s greatest favor to his Russian counterpart was time. Russian success or failure on the front line will be measured in a matter of weeks. Putin has until mid-October until the weather cools, ground softens, and advances become harder. That is a full two months. His forces are on the brink of turning painfully incremental and…

by Lacey Pfalz Last updated: 10:30 AM ET, Fri August 15, 2025 The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has revealed the first group of headline speakers that will present at the 25th Global Summit in Rome in late September. The Global Summit, held from September 28 through September 30, will be held at the Auditorium Parco della Musica.  The summit will feature a change in WTTC’s Chair: Greg O’Hara, Founder and Senior Managing Director of Certares Management LLC, which owns stakes in AmaWaterways, Avoya Travel, G Adventures, Internova Travel Group and other well-known travel industry companies and brands, will pass…

Facebook Tweet Email Link Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel’s weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations, plus the latest in aviation, food and drink, and where to stay. In our travel roundup this week: the Japanese city firebombed by the US just hours before the end of World War II, the mysterious origins of the world’s only non-rectangular national flag, plus four lifetime friends recreate the photo they took on a UK beach more than 50 years earlier. East Anglia was selected by Lonely Planet as one of its top places to visit in 2025 and now there’s…

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) said he intends to investigate whether Meta’s generative AI products exploit, deceive, or harm children, after leaked internal documents showed the company’s chatbots were allowed to have “romantic” and “sensual” chats with children.  “Is there anything – ANYTHING – Big Tech won’t do for a quick buck?” Hawley wrote in a post on X announcing the investigation. Hawley chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, which he says will commence a probe into whether Meta’s tech harms children, and “whether Meta misled the public or regulators about its safeguards.” Reuters broke the story after…

James Showalter describes a pretty specific if not entirely implausible nightmare scenario. Someone drives up to your house, cracks your Wi-Fi password, and then starts messing with the solar inverter mounted beside your garage — that unassuming gray box that converts the direct current from your rooftop panels into the alternating current that powers your home. “You’ve got to have a solar stalker” for this scenario to play out, says Showalter, describing the kind of person who would need to physically show up in your driveway with both the technical know-how and the motivation to hack your home energy system.…

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Kylan Darnell became an overnight celebrity in the TikTok niche that documents the glitzy, ritualistic recruitment process for sororities. As a 21-year-old rising senior four years later, she’s taking more of her sorority life offline.Darnell has until now been the embodiment of RushTok, a week-long marathon that has teens at schools around the country meticulously documenting their efforts to land a cherished spot in a sorority during the colorful, girly and enigmatic recruitment process known as rush week. Reactions to the content that once catapulted her to fame — depicting her life as a Zeta Tau…

I’m looking out at Alcatraz Island from a Mediterranean restaurant in San Francisco with hundred-dollar fish entrées on the menu. As I make small talk with other reporters, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman jumps through the door on my left. Altman’s looking down at his bare iPhone to show us all something, and an intrusive thought slips out of my mouth: “No phone case is a bold choice.” Of course, I immediately realize that the billionaire CEO of OpenAI, who employs Apple veteran Jony Ive, cares more about preserving the iPhone’s original design than the $1,000 it costs to replace one.…

by Lacey Pfalz Last updated: 9:55 AM ET, Fri August 15, 2025 Labor Day travel is expected to be cheaper across the board for Americans this year, according to new data by AAA. “Labor Day caps off summer travel and provides one final holiday weekend before the fall routine begins,” said Stacey Barber, Vice President of AAA Travel. “The top cities on the domestic and international lists are Seattle and Vancouver, both port cities for Alaska cruises. While some people are going on dream cruises or European vacations, many travelers are staying closer to home and taking road trips to nearby…

Another crypto company is headed for the public markets. This time, it’s Gemini Space Station Inc., the New York-based crypto exchange and custodian bank founded by billionaire twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. The outfit, which plans to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol GEMI, was founded in 2014 and operates as an exchange and custodian that offers a number of products and services, including a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin and a credit card that offers rewards in crypto. The company’s S-1 document, which was filed Friday after markets closed, provides a look at its finances. The upshot:…