rocket travel company

Although Points believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to important risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Certain material assumptions or estimates are applied in making forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. In particular, uncertainty around the duration and scope of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of the pandemic and actions taken in response on global and regional economies, economic activity, and all elements of the travel and hospitality industry may have a significant and materially adverse impact on our business. These and other important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are discussed in Points' annual information form, Form 40-F, annual and interim management's discussion and analysis (“MD&A”), and annual and interim financial statements and the notes thereto. These documents are available at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov .

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as at the date of this release and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. Except as required by law, Points does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements made or incorporated in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f59c6cc4-6955-49a9-b2ec-2ee9549ee4b7

Rocket Travel , a Booking Holdings Company , and Points International Will Enhance Travel Booking Experience for Loyalty Members with New Partnership

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Rocket travel, a booking holdings company, and points international will enhance travel booking experience for loyalty members with new partnership, points will leverage rocket travel’s loyalty travel booking technology for its points travel deployments.

TORONTO, Nov. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global leader in powering loyalty commerce, Points International Ltd. (NASDAQ:PCOM) (TSX:PTS), will collaborate with the industry-leading provider of bespoke white-labelled travel booking platforms, Rocket Travel, Inc., a Booking Holdings Company (NASDAQ: BKNG), to enhance the overall booking experience offered to its roster of Loyalty Program partners.

As part of the collaboration agreement, Rocket Travel’s best-in-class white-label loyalty hotel and car booking services will replace the services currently provided by the Points Travel solutions while still leveraging Points’ Loyalty Commerce Platform capabilities. In addition, pointshound.com will become a Rocketmiles.com channel provider, enabling accelerated rewards with even more worldwide loyalty partners in a streamlined user journey.

Bart Welch, CEO of Rocket Travel, commented on the news: “We are thrilled to expand Rocket’s global reach by collaborating with Points and working with their partners. We’ve long admired the capabilities of their Loyalty Commerce Platform and are confident that complementing it with Rocket Travel’s white-label travel solution will create significant value for Points partners and their customers.”

Points’ loyalty program partners and their members will continue to enjoy a robust travel booking platform and leading user experience, while benefiting from an unmatched breadth of hotel and car inventory backed by Booking Holdings’ worldwide network and Rocket’s leading full service, white-label travel booking platform. Points will continue to manage the loyalty program relationships and process the miles and points portion of each transaction.

Christopher Barnard, President and Co-Founder of Points, also welcomed the news: “We are excited to launch this new initiative with Rocket. Establishing a robust travel services offering with clear industry leaders allows us to continue building on our deep and long-standing loyalty program relationships as well as the unique transaction capabilities of our Loyalty Commerce Platform. Seamlessly combining these with Rocket’s leading white-label travel booking offering will significantly add to the value we bring to our current and future loyalty program partners.”

Rocket Travel and Points are committed to seeking additional opportunities to more effectively serve their respective loyalty partners and members by complementing one another’s offerings and core competencies.

For more information on how Points can help loyalty programs unlock their full potential, visit Points.com .

About Rocket Travel Inc. Rocket Travel, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG), partners with companies around the world to provide industry-leading bespoke white-labelled travel booking platforms, with a deep focus on earning and redeeming loyalty currency. Rocket Travel’s dozens of partners include major airlines and financial institutions around the world, who benefit from the best of Booking Holdings’ global reach. Rocket Travel also operates www.rocketmiles.com , a one-stop accommodation booking solution for consumers eager to earn outsized rewards at competitive rates with over 50 loyalty programs around the world. For more information please contact [email protected]

About Booking Holdings Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG) is the world's leading provider of online travel and related services, provided to consumers and local partners in more than 220 countries and territories through six primary consumer-facing brands: Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, Rentalcars.com, KAYAK and OpenTable, together with Rocket Travel. The mission of Booking Holdings is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world. For more information, visit BookingHoldings.com and follow us on Twitter @BookingHoldings.

About Points International Ltd. Points, (TSX: PTS) (Nasdaq: PCOM) is a trusted partner to the world’s leading loyalty programs, leveraging its unique Loyalty Commerce Platform to build, power, and grow a network of ways members can get and use their favourite loyalty currency. Our platform combines insights, technology, and resources to make the movement of loyalty currency simpler and more intelligent for nearly 60 reward programs worldwide. Founded in 2000, Points is headquartered in Toronto with teams operating around the globe.

For more information, visit Points.com .

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains or incorporates forward-looking statements within the meaning of United States securities legislation, and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These forward-looking statements include or relate to but are not limited to, among other things, the impact that Points collaboration with Rocket Travel will have, including value that will be created and Points ability to execute on its strategic growth drivers. These statements are not historical facts but instead represent Points’ expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances.

Although Points believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to important risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Certain material assumptions or estimates are applied in making forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. In particular, uncertainty around the duration and scope of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of the pandemic and actions taken in response on global and regional economies, economic activity, and all elements of the travel and hospitality industry may have a significant and materially adverse impact on our business. These and other important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are discussed in Points' annual information form, Form 40-F, annual and interim management's discussion and analysis (“MD&A”), and annual and interim financial statements and the notes thereto. These documents are available at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov.

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as at the date of this release and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. Except as required by law, Points does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements made or incorporated in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f59c6cc4-6955-49a9-b2ec-2ee9549ee4b7

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NASA's Proposed Plasma Rocket Would Get Us to Mars in 2 Months

The future of space travel depends on our ability to reach celestial pit stops faster and more efficiently. As such, NASA is working with a technology development company on a new propulsion system that could drop off humans on Mars in a relatively speedy two months’ time rather than the current nine month journey required to reach the Red Planet.

NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program recently selected six promising projects for additional funding and development, allowing them to graduate to the second stage of development. The new “science fiction-like concepts,” as described by John Nelson, NIAC program executive at NASA, include a lunar railway system and fluid-based telescopes, as well as a pulsed plasma rocket.

The potentially groundbreaking propulsion system is being developed by Arizona-based Howe Industries. To reach high velocities within a shorter period of time, the pulsed plasma rocket would use nuclear fission—the release of energy from atoms splitting apart—to generate packets of plasma for thrust.

It would essentially produce a controlled jet of plasma to help propel the rocket through space. Using the new propulsion system, and in terms of thrust, the rocket could potentially generate up to 22,481 pounds of force (100,000 Newtons) with a specific impulse (Isp) of 5,000 seconds, for remarkably high fuel efficiency.

It’s not an entirely new concept. NASA began developing its own version back in 2018 under the name Pulsed Fission-Fusion (PuFF). PuFF relied on a device commonly used to compress laboratory plasmas to high pressures for very short timescales, called z-Pinch, to produce thrust. The pulsed plasma rocket, however, is smaller, simpler, and more affordable, according to NASA .

The space agency claims that the propulsion system’s high efficiency could allow for crewed missions to Mars to be completed within two months. As it stands today with commonly used propulsion systems, a trip to Mars takes around nine months. The less time humans can spend traveling through space, the better. Shorter periods of exposure to space radiation and microgravity could help mitigate its effects on the human body.

The pulsed plasma rocket would also be capable of carrying much heavier spacecraft, which can be then equipped with shielding against galactic cosmic rays for the crew on board.

Phase 2 of NIAC is focused on assessing the neutronics of the system (how the motion of the spacecraft interacts with the plasma), designing the spacecraft, power system, and necessary subsystems, analyzing the magnetic nozzle capabilities, and determining trajectories and benefits of the pulsed plasma rocket, according to NASA.

The new propulsion system has the potential to revolutionize crewed spaceflight, helping humans make it to Mars without the toil of the trip itself.

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Meet Agency Rocket

A complete insurance sales system and your new best friend, we offer two platforms to accelerate your insurance marketing efforts , build better connections and simplify strategies for your clients..

The Debt Action Plan platform provides all the tools you need to market the infinite banking concept of debt elimination and wealth building using participating whole life insurance. Use the scenario builder to capture your client's financial profile to determine the best strategy with precise instructions mapped out before them including beautiful reports and revolutionary interactive tools.

Designed to educate the consumer on using Indexed Universal Life (IUL) as a retirement strategy, the My New Retirement platform combines prospecting tools, business management tools and the incredible IUL Analyzer which creates a visually compelling interactive presentation that lays out the superior benefits of the IUL strategy in an irrefutable way.

Finally… a company that gets it! Agency Rocket delivers state of the art graphics, simple to use sliders and interactive reports that have transformed our agency into the digital age. The stunning webinars that are seen by prospects in the comfort of their own homes, are short, clean and very impactful, increasing our agents efficiency. There’s no looking back now, our future is brighter than ever, thanks to Agency Rocket.

James (Jay) Beattey

Agency Rocket is the missing link that has separated clients from a better financial future; and advisors from the success we deserve. It is brilliantly conceived – powerfully displayed – and irrefutable in its story-telling.

If you want to build an air-tight case – and watch Wall Street squirm as their inferior so-called solutions are revealed for the deception they are – Agency Rocket will become your best friend.

Agency Rocket"s technology has been an invaluable tool for our practice and team. It has made explaining and selling IUL"s to clients a fun and effortless affair. No one has the illustration software they offer which makes choosing an IUL over a 401(k) a no-brainer. Clients are literally shocked when they see the advantages of the IUL which Agency Rocket"s software illuminates so well. Customer support is timely and always helpful and Agency Rocket is continually upgrading its product and adding new options.

Steven Duplain

Agency Rocket has been a real game changer for our advisors. It puts a suite of very powerful digital tools in their hands that allows them to simply illustrate the benefits of an IUL vs a Qualified Plan or Roth or to get as granular as necessary. Our preparation time for presentations has been slashed and, based on the results, we are actually better and more fully prepared. Since we started with Agency Rocket our revenue is up over 30% and we are able to track results more effectively. I strongly recommend using Agency Rocket…from where I sit it’s a no brainer!

Each platform we offer comes with our full stack marketing solution comprised of 3 integrated components to help you see more people , close more deals and ultimately earn more commission .

Designed to educate the consumer on how insurance can positively impact your financial well being, Reach combines social media, email & text campaigns with landing pages & educational webinars to accelerate the client through the sales process.

Tracker is a sales CRM built from scratch by insurance professionals for insurance professionals with a clear visual interface that prompts you to take action and stay on top of your pending business.

Analyzer compares your client"s current path with your proposed strategy. Enter their information, upload an illustration to the system and Analyzer provides projections, reports and compelling comparisons to close the sale.

Ignite your insurance marketing efforts and get started today!

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Russia set to build new space center in Moscow (PHOTOS)

Russia’s new National Space Center is being constructed on the site of the Khrunichev State Space Research and Production Center in western Moscow.

On June 21, the Moscow City Architecture Committee approved the urban planning solution, according to the official website of the Moscow Mayor’s Office.

The tender to develop the architectural concept, announced in October 2019, was won by the Russian design bureau UNK Project.

According to their concept, the main component of the center will be a triangular tower in the form of a 248m-tall rocket, which will house the headquarters of Roscosmos. The facade of the building will be illuminated to create a moving-up effect. And at the base, lighting fixtures will simulate the flame of a rocket booster.

Adjoining the tower will be a long building with research labs and offices. This building will be traversed by a 545m-long central gallery, along which canteens and consumer services will be located.

In addition, the complex will feature open-air museums in U-shaped courtyards, where pieces of aerospace equipment will be suspended in the air via cables between the buildings.

The ceremonial laying of the first stone took place in September 2019, and construction is scheduled to finish by 2022.

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Rocket Travel

• Perks + Benefits

Rocket Travel by Agoda is Agoda's strategic partnerships arm, working with the world’s largest companies to create branded experiences from the first search to check-out from their stay. Our global partnerships range from world-class airlines to international banks, as well large-scale shopping platforms, SuperApps, and the largest travel players in the world. Our customers can earn and redeem miles, points, and gift cards, or save big with exclusive discounts, for booking travel accommodations around the world, from global favorite brands to boutique bed and breakfasts. We also help our partners curate vacation excursion planning and car rental services, with a completely branded experience from the first search to check-out from their stay. We attract customers from every corner of the globe with a user experience that's built in-house from ideation to finished product. We have offices in Chicago, NYC, Bangkok, Medellín, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, and Cebu, as well as colleagues working remotely across four continents.

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Ukraine war latest: Ukraine sacks commander amid fierce battles with Russian forces; Putin reshuffle 'may hint he is preparing for future confrontation with NATO'

Fierce fighting is taking place in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, with Moscow claiming to have seized nine border villages in the area. And in Moscow, Vladimir Putin has replaced a long-time ally. Submit your question on the war for our experts below.

Monday 13 May 2024 16:03, UK

• Big picture: Everything you need to know as war enters a new week
• Russia claims control of nine villages after shock advance
• Threat of fighting spreading, says Kharkiv governor | Commander sacked
• Moscow forces walked 'freely' across border, Ukrainian soldier claims
• Putin reshuffle indicates he may be preparing for future confrontation with NATO - analysts
• Eyewitness: Deborah Haynes reports from town 'flattened' in offensive
• Analysis:  Putin's 'baffling' reshuffle explained
• Who is Andrei Belousov, Putin's new pick for defence minister?

Ask a question or make a comment

That's all our coverage for what has been an important day on the battlefield and beyond.

If you're just checking in, here is a recap of the key developments that took place since this morning.

You can scan the key points above or scroll back through our posts to find out more details.

We'll be back tomorrow with more updates and analysis on the war in Ukraine.

• Russian forces claimed to have captured nine villages northeastern Ukraine, having opened a second front in the Kharkiv region on Friday;
• The governor of Kharkiv said there was a threat of fighting spreading to other settlements;
• The military commander for the Kharkiv region was sacked;
• Hundreds of people were evacuated from towns near the border;
• Ukraine said it thwarted Russian agents plotting to set off a series of bomb attacks in Kyiv and the Western city of Lviv;
• Russia's acting foreign minister said the country was prepared if the West wanted to fight for Ukraine on the battlefield;
• Analysts said Vladimir Putin's choice of defence minister indicated he was preparing Russia for a protracted war.

As fighting continues in northeastern Kharkiv, its governor has issued some updates.

Russian forces struck a farm in the town of Korotychy, killing a civilian and wounding three others, said Oleh Syniehubov.

Another attack on Liptsiy injured a 71-year-old woman, who was rushed to hospital, he said.

The regional defence council has ordered the mandatory evacuation of 113 orphans from three settlements, said Oleh Syniehubov.

Plans have been laid out to evacuate a total of 1,600 residents today.

Just 200 to 300 people remain in the embattled town of Vovchansk, he said, which had a population of 2,500 before the assault and 17,000 before the war.

Russian agents plotted to set off a series of bomb attacks in Kyiv and the Western city of Lviv, Ukraine says.

The prosecutor general's office said authorities arrested two military agents over plans to blow up markets and a site near a cafe in the capital, as well as a defence enterprise in Lviv, seizing 19 explosive devices.

Four of the bombs were intended for Kyiv on Thursday, the day when Russia celebrates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, according to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

"According to the plan of the Russian special service, the explosives were supposed to detonate during the supermarkets' peak hours to cause maximum damage to the civilian population," the agency said.

'Disguised as tea boxes'

The explosives intended for the Kyiv builders' markets were disguised as packages of tea, while a bomb was placed in a car for the cafe, according to the SBU.

The Lviv attack was meant to happen last February, the SBU said.

An unidentified defence enterprise was the target, according to prosecutors.

There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Last week, the SBU said it had caught two agents within the state protection department plotting the assassination of Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov.

The Ukrainian military says Russia has had a "partial success" near a village in northern Kharkiv.

But Ukrainian soldiers stopped Russian forces from moving further near Lukyantsi, the general staff said.

It said Russian troops have continued offensive actions, and Ukraine will build up its forces in the area depending on the situation.

Russia launched an incursion from the Belgorod region in Russia across the border into northern Kharkiv on Friday.

Analysts have warned it could stretch Ukrainian forces between two fronts, creating opportunities on the main frontline that Russia may exploit.

Echoing the analysis we featured earlier from the Insitute for the Study of War (see our 11.18am post), a senior Ukrainian official has said Vladimir Putin's reshuffle shows he wants to scale up the war effort.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said: "Russia is finally isolating itself and will try to scale up the war, expand its formats while reconfiguring the economy."

In a surprise move, Vladimir Putin sacked his defence minister of 12 years Sergei Shoigu and named economist Adrei Belousov as Mr Shoigu's successor.

The Institute for the Study of War said Mr Belousov, who has no military experience, will be charged with integrating the defence industrial base into wider domestic policy, further placing Russia on a war footing.

It suggests the Kremlin is preparing for a protracted conflict with Ukraine - or even possibly a future confrontation with NATO, the ISW said.

Approximately 40 miles from the fighting in northeastern Kharkiv, children in the region's namesake city are undertaking their first lessons at an underground school.

The classrooms - the first of their kind - are heavily fortified in an effort to allow some pupils to return to in-person teaching out of reach of Russia's bombs.

Kharkiv's schools have been forced to teach online throughout the war as some Russian missiles can reach the city in under a minute.

Metro stations are playing host to dozens of classrooms, while others have been welded together from layers of steel reinforcing wire and poured cement.

Russia has been increasingly carrying out off-road motorbike attacks under the cover of darkness, according to British intelligence.

Lighter, faster, all-terrain vehicles have highly likely been used since the start of this year to hit Ukrainian positions, transport personnel to the frontlines and conduct reconnaissance, the UK defence ministry has said.

It said Russia reportedly purchased 2,100 Chinese off-road vehicles named Desertcross 1000-3, some of which were personally inspected by Vladimir Putin in November.

"Since the start of 2024, Russia has highly likely increased its use of light vehicles, such as all-terrain vehicles and off-road motorbikes, to transport personnel to the frontlines and conduct attacks on Ukrainian positions, particularly at night."

But the army has sacrificed armour and firepower for mobility, with light vehicles "far more vulnerable than their armoured counterparts", the UK MoD said.

Ukrainian drones have "already demonstrated their ability to effectively target" the vehicles, it added.

As we covered in some detail here earlier this year, Sweden dropped more than two centuries of historic neutrality by joining NATO.

The Baltic Sea, which includes maritime access to the Russian city of St Petersburg and the Kaliningrad enclave, is now almost surrounded by members of the alliance.

Today, Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson said Nordic and Baltic cooperation was "deeper than at any time in modern times", underpinned by increasing security threats from Russia.

He is hosting German chancellor Olaf Scholtz and the prime ministers of Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland in Stockholm, with security policy and NATO's July summit in Washington topping the agenda.

"We have long appreciated our neighbours, but at the same time underestimated the importance of concrete, operational cooperation," Mr Kristersson wrote in an op-ed in Swedish business paper Dagens Industri.

Meanwhile, the three Baltic prime ministers have been meeting in Lithuania to reaffirm that Moscow's intimidation is not going to dissuade them from supporting Ukraine.

Estonia's prime minister Kaja Kallas said that "Russia has also intensified the shadow war against all of European countries. It wants to really scare and intimidate the free world to scare us away from helping Ukraine".

"We shouldn't be scared," she added.

With a second front opening in the war and a surprise reshuffle in Vladimir Putin's cabinet, it's been an important week for the war in Ukraine.

Readers have been sending in their questions to our senior correspondents and military experts for their take on the changing battlefield environment.

Today, Jeanie asked:

Is Russia taking advantage and conducting an offensive in the border region due to the fact that several Western countries don't allow their weapons to be used on Russian soil?

Military analyst Sean Bell had this to say...

Thanks, Jeanie, for this very topical question.

Russia claims to have seized nine border settlements as part of a major offensive in the Kharkiv region. Although Ukraine has known for months that Russia was amassing military forces in the region - between 30,000 to 50 000 troops - the scale and ferocity of the attack appears to have caught Ukraine by surprise.

Although only Vladimir Putin and his senior military leadership will know the details of Russia's military strategy, most military analysts believe that Russia does not have the military resources to mount a significant and enduring second front without compromising the offensive in the Donbas - widely believed to be Russia's main effort.

However, Putin is well aware that Russia has a window of opportunity to capitalise on Ukraine's shortage of weapons, and by opening a second front, it forces Ukraine to spread its resources even more thinly, leaving Ukraine more vulnerable on the frontline in the Donbas.

Russia's military objectives for this new offensive appear to be to create a "buffer zone" to protect the Russian border town of Belgorod. This logistics hub for the Russian military effort is just within artillery range of Ukraine, and Putin has long promised to push the Ukrainian forces outside artillery range - around 30km. 

In addition, Russia wants to threaten Kharkiv, so it's pushing forward to enable its own artillery to be within range of this major Ukrainian city.

Moving large quantities of military personnel and equipment from the frontline cannot easily be done discreetly - which under normal circumstances would leave Russian forces vulnerable to Ukrainian attack. 

However, in an effort to limit the potential for escalation, the West has precluded the use of Western-provided weapons to target Russian forces on Russian territory. This significantly limits Ukraine's ability to target Russia's forces as they prepare for a fresh offensive.

However, although we can speculate on Putin's objectives, a battlefield is a dynamic environment, and Russia has considerable forces in reserve to capitalise on any momentum achieved during its current offensive.

Vladimir Putin's surprise choice of new defence minister Andrei Belousov has been speaking to a parliamentary committee as part of his confirmation process.

In his first public comments since being appointed to the post, he called for greater care for soldiers, including better access to housing, hospitals and welfare benefits. 

State media quoted him as saying there was too much bureaucracy surrounding the payment of benefits to military personnel. 

"I think it's a mess when participants in the special military operation who come back on holiday are driven from civilian medical institutions to hospitals which are often simply overcrowded. This issue needs to be resolved," Mr Belousov said.

The comments appeared to be aimed at demonstrating to members of the armed forces that he understands their concerns and will work to improve their conditions. 

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