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by Mia Taylor Last updated: 5:30 PM ET, Fri July 25, 2025 American travelers have long enjoyed the benefit of a powerful U.S. dollar allowing vacation spending to go much further in many countries abroad. The historic strength of the dollar has extended purchasing power abroad on everything from the cost of hotels to food and transportation. But good things don’t always last. And just a few weeks ago, the banner run of the U.S. dollar experienced a reality check. Its value began to tumble compared to other currencies and ultimately posted its worst first half year in more than 50…
Facebook Tweet Email Link Associated Press — Syria will hold parliamentary elections in September, the head of a body tasked with organizing the election process told state media Sunday. Mohammed Taha al-Ahmad, chairman of the Higher Committee for People’s Assembly Elections, told state news agency SANA that elections will take place between Sept. 15 and 20. They will be the first to take place under the country’s new authorities after the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a lightning rebel offensive in December. One third of the 210 seats will the appointed by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, with the…
In what ways will the travel industry evolve by 2030?The answers from advisors were wide-ranging, with some very optimistic about the future while others were a bit more skeptical. Here’s what they had to say about client and supplier relationships, and the role Artificial Intelligence (AI) will play in the travel industry going forward.Travel Advisor and Client Relationships“By 2030, travel advisors will act more like long-term travel strategists than transactional planners,” said McLean Robbins of Lily Pond Luxury, a Travel Experts affiliate. “We’ll guide clients through every stage of their lives—from honeymoons to multigenerational getaways—offering a deeply personalized, high-touch approach that no…
The massive Las Vegas venue known as Sphere will be screening its first classic movie, “The Wizard of Oz,” starting on August 28. And as detailed in a segment on CBS Sunday Morning, this isn’t just a matter of taking the existing movie and projecting it on Sphere’s 160,000 square foot, wraparound LED screen. Instead, Sphere Entertainment CEO James Dolan said a 2,000-person team is creating a new experience. That includes using AI to both increase the resolution of the existing film and expand the footage beyond the frame of what was actually shot. For example, Turner Classic Movie presenter…
Indie video game marketplace Itch.io announced this week that it has “deindexed” adult and not-safe-for-work games, removing them from its browse and search pages. The move, the company said, was in response to a campaign by Collective Shout (an advocacy group that has previously criticized video games, rap music, and lingerie commercials) targeting both Itch.io and Steam for selling “No Mercy,” a game that depicts rape and incest. In an open letter addressed to executives at PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, and other payment processors, Collective Shout said that games “endorsing men’s sexualised abuse and torture of women and girls fly in…
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tom Lehrer, the popular song satirist who lampooned marriage, politics, racism and the Cold War, then largely abandoned his music career to return to teaching math at Harvard and other universities, has died. He was 97. Longtime friend David Herder said Lehrer died Saturday at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He did not specify a cause of death.Lehrer had remained on the math faculty of the University of California at Santa Cruz well into his late 70s. In 2020, he even turned away from his own copyright, granting the public permission to use his lyrics in…
Facebook Tweet Email Link Istanbul AP — Wildfires that have engulfed Turkey for weeks threatened the country’s fourth-largest city early Sunday, causing more than 1,700 people to flee their homes and leaving a firefighter dead. Meanwhile, firefighters elsewhere in the region, including Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro, were also battling blazes fed by unusually high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds. Overnight fires in the forested mountains surrounding Bursa in northwest Turkey spread rapidly, tinting the night sky over the city’s eastern suburbs with a red glow. Dozens of severe wildfires have hit the country daily since late June, with the…
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Marvel’s first family has finally found box office gold. “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” the first film about the superheroes made under the guidance of Kevin Feige and the Walt Disney Co., earned $118 million in its first weekend in 4,125 North American theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday.That makes it the fourth biggest opening of the year, behind “A Minecraft Movie,” “Lilo & Stitch” and “Superman,” and the biggest Marvel opening since “Deadpool & Wolverine” grossed $211 million out of the gate last summer. Internationally, “Fantastic Four” made $100 million from 52 territories, adding up…
Facebook Tweet Email Link After a long day of work, I climb onto the couch to make plans for the rest of the week, and my mind buzzes with everything I could put on my priority list. I should spend less time on social media, but it is also good to stay connected to long-distance friends. I need to drink water regularly, but does my tap water have endocrine-disrupting chemicals? Eating leftovers rather than restaurant meals is healthier, but I shouldn’t store food in plastic because I need to reduce my exposure to microplastics. I hate running, but I should…
The Department of Government Efficiency hopes to use a new AI tool to eliminate half of the federal government’s regulatory mandates, according to The Washington Post. Citing a PowerPoint presentation dated July 1, The Post reports that the DOGE AI Deregulation Decision Tool is supposed to analyze around 200,000 federal regulations and identify the ones that are no longer required by law, with the goal of eliminating half those regulations by the first anniversary of President Donald Trump’s return to office. It seems this work is already underway, with the presentation declaring the tool has already been used to review…