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I’ve been to 18 European countries. These are the 5 underrated cities I’d return to in a heartbeat.

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After a 30-minute bus ride from Pisa, I arrived in Lucca and walked through the city’s Renaissance-era walls into the historic center.

I found it to be the perfect place to wander in December, and because many roads were blocked off to cars, it felt very peaceful.

Within the walls, there are Romanesque churches and striking medieval towers. I started at Guinigi Tower, where visitors can climb to the top for panoramic views of terracotta rooftops and rolling Tuscan hills.

Afterward, I wandered along the city walls, where I admired colorful murals, and dined at Osteria da Pasqualino, where I enjoyed fettuccine with cream of zucchini and prawns with lemon, along with an afternoon glass of wine in a beautiful courtyard.

Clothing shops and gelaterias surround Lucca’s charming squares. When I was there, there were hardly any crowds, and the city felt cinematic.




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Savannah Guthrie and her siblings have issued a video plea for their mother's safe return home.

NBC says Savannah Guthrie plans to return to ‘Today’ show as the search for her mother drags on

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Savannah Guthrie and her siblings have issued a video plea for their mother’s safe return home.

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  • Savannah Guthrie stopped by the Manhattan studio of the “Today” show on Thursday.
  • The morning show co-host has been on hiatus from the NBC program since her mother’s disappearance.
  • A “Today” spokesperson said Guthrie has plans to return to the show one day.

“Today” show host Savannah Guthrie visited the New York City studio of the NBC morning program on Thursday as the search for her missing mother entered its 33rd day.

Guthrie has been on hiatus from the show and with her family in Arizona since her mother’s mysterious February 1 disappearance. Last month, Guthrie dropped out of NBC’s coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan amid the crisis.

Authorities believe that Guthrie’s 84-year-old mom, Nancy Guthrie, was abducted from her ranch-style home just outside Tucson, AZ, more than four weeks ago.

“Savannah Guthrie stopped by the studio this morning to be with and thank her ‘TODAY’ colleagues,” a “Today” show spokesperson told NBC News in a statement on Thursday. The “Today” show and NBC did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

The spokesperson added that Savannah Guthrie plans to return to co-hosting the morning show at some point, though no timeline was provided.

“While she plans to return to the show on air, she remains focused right now supporting her family and working to help bring Nancy home,” the spokesperson said.

Last week, Savannah Guthrie announced that her family is offering as much as $1 million for the return of her mother, while acknowledging that the elderly woman may be dead.

Memorial outside of Nancy Guthrie's home.
Arizona locals have set up a makeshift memorial outside of Nancy Guthrie’s home.

Grace Hie Yoon/Anadolu via Getty Images

The veteran anchor said in an Instagram video message that her family still believes “in a miracle,” but said, “We also know that she may be lost.”

The reward offered by the Guthrie family is on top of the $100,000 that the FBI has already offered for information related to Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.

As the search for Nancy Guthrie drags on, local law enforcement and the FBI are still trying to identify the masked and armed man who was captured on footage from the woman’s missing Nest doorbell camera the night she vanished.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has said investigators found drops of blood on Nancy Guthrie’s porch that were later confirmed to be hers.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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Lloyd Lee

Savannah Guthrie says family ‘will pay’ for their mother’s return in video plea to possible kidnapper

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Savannah Guthrie has made a direct plea to her mother’s potential abductor: “We will pay.”

In a new, 20-second video posted on her Instagram account on Saturday, Guthrie said her family had received someone’s “message” and were begging for the return of her mother, Nancy Guthrie, 84, who has been reported missing since Sunday.

“We received your message, and we understand,” Guthrie said, sitting between her two siblings in the video. “We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”

Guthrie did not identify a specific individual. It’s also unclear what message Guthrie was referring to.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI said in a statement on Friday that they were aware of a new message regarding Nancy Guthrie.

“Investigators are actively inspecting the information provided in the message for its authenticity,” the sheriff’s department wrote.

A spokesperson for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An FBI spokesperson said the agency did not have further information to provide.

There have been reports of multiple ransom notes. Federal officials arrested a California man on Thursday, accusing him of sending a fake ransom note to the Guthrie family.

Officials have not identified a suspect but have said that the incident may have involved a kidnapping or abduction.

Guthrie’s mother was last seen at her home located just outside Tucson.

Authorities said blood confirmed to belong to the elder Guthrie was found on the porch, and the doorbell camera had been disconnected, leaving investigators without crucial evidence.

Her daughter, a veteran news anchor of nearly three decades, said that her mother’s health is “fragile” and requires daily medication.

“We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated,” the younger Guthrie said in a video posted on Wednesday. “We need to know, without a doubt, that she is alive, and that you have her. We want to hear from you, and we are ready to listen. Please, reach out to us.”




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Savannah Guthrie asks for proof of life in tearful video appeal for her mother’s return: ‘We are ready to talk’

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Savannah Guthrie shared a video message on Instagram on Wednesday pleading for her mother’s safe return.

Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, has been missing since Sunday. She was last seen at her home outside Tucson, Arizona. Officials told NBC Nightly News on Monday that they believe she was “taken out of her home against her will.”

Guthrie appeared in the video alongside her siblings, Annie and Camron, and read from a prepared statement — at one point, addressing the people who may have her mother.

“As a family, we are doing everything that we can. We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated,” Guthrie said.

“We need to know, without a doubt, that she is alive, and that you have her. We want to hear from you, and we are ready to listen. Please, reach out to us,” she said.

In the nearly four-minute-long video, Guthrie described her mother as a “kind, faithful, loyal, fiercely loving woman of goodness and light,” and a person who is “funny, spunky, and clever.”

“Our mom is our heart and our home. She is 84 years old. Her health, her heart is fragile. She lives in constant pain. She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive. She needs it not to suffer,” Guthrie added.

In the closing seconds of the video, Guthrie spoke directly to her mother.

“Everyone is looking for you, Mommy, everywhere. We will not rest. Your children will not rest until we are together again,” she said. “We speak to you every moment. And we pray without ceasing, and we rejoice in advance for the day that we hold you in our arms again. We love you, Mommy.”

Both of Guthrie’s siblings also spoke, with her sister Annie saying she and her siblings are “just normal human people who need our mom.”

“Mama, mama, if you’re listening, we need you to come home. We miss you,” she said.

Near the end of the video, Guthrie’s brother Camron addressed their mother, saying, “We love you, Mom. Stay strong.”

On Wednesday morning, the sheriff’s office told Business Insider that Nancy’s home was “equipped with several cameras,” and that detectives are trying to determine what footage is available.

The FBI is also involved in the investigation.

“The FBI is doing everything in our power to bring Nancy Guthrie home to her family,” Jon Edwards, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s office in Tucson, said in a statement at a press conference on Tuesday.




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Wix says US employees ‘will remain hybrid’ as the Israel-based company announces 5-day office return

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Wix is asking employees in three countries to come back to the office. US workers will remain hybrid, though, Business Insider has confirmed.

Nir Zohar, president of the Israeli website management company, told employees in an email Wednesday that “Wix is moving to a full office work week” and impacted workers must come back to the office five days a week starting February 1.

The return-to-office mandate applies to workers in Tel Aviv and Beersheba, Israel; Kraków, Poland; and Vilnius, Lithuania. Ukrainian employees will continue working remotely “from wherever is safest,” Zohar wrote in the email, which he posted to X and LinkedIn.

A Wix spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider that all US employees “will remain hybrid.” The company declined to elaborate on why American workers are excluded from the RTO policy.

“Customer Care and the rest of the global teams will have direct communication with local leadership about how this change will affect them,” Zohar emailed his employees.

Zohar framed the return-to-office push as essential for collaboration and innovation, echoing arguments made by other CEOs — like AT&T’s John Stankey and Starbucks’ Brian Niccol — rolling back remote work.

“The unique energy in the office, the quick chats, the unplanned ideas, the feeling of being around each other — it all makes a real difference in how fast things move, how much easier it is to solve problems and how much more connected we feel,” he wrote. “Working together also means challenging each other, encouraging creativity and innovation.”

Wix was initially planning its in-office mandate for the Tel Aviv office in October 2023, but put those plans on hold due to the Israel-Hamas war, Zohar said in the email.

In November, the company reported having 5,344 staffers globally.

Zohar emphasized that Wix would remain flexible for personal circumstances like sick children or family emergencies, saying managers would work with employees on a case-by-case basis.

Wix, which launched in 2006, services more than 200 million users from 10 global corporate offices, according to its website.

The company’s stock jumped 1.4 percent after the RTO announcement. It’s 53 percent in the red in the past year, including a 37 percent loss in the past six months.

Read Wix president Nir Zohar’s email to employees below

Hi everyone,
I want to share an update about how we’ll be working as we head into 2026.
Wix has always been about working side by side, collaborating and building a culture of personal as well as team growth.
The unique energy in the office, the quick chats, the unplanned ideas, the feeling of being around each other — it all makes a real difference in how fast things move, how much easier it is to solve problems and how much more connected we feel. Working together also means challenging each other, encouraging creativity and innovation.
Historically, Covid and lack of office space in Israel pushed us to WFH and then to hybrid mode.
We actually originally planned to move back to full WFO in Israel a few months after we made the full move to the Campus in October 2023, but for obvious reasons decided to hold off.
Now we think it is finally the right time to go back to a full work week at the office.
To give the Campus and different site ops teams time to prepare, we’ll start this on February 1, 2026. This change will be effective for Israel (TLV & BY), Kraków and Vilnius teams.
Our teams in Ukraine will continue working from wherever is safest and works for them best.
Customer Care and the rest of the global teams will have direct communication with local leadership about how this change will affect them.
This will take into account each site’s specific constraints, regulations and needs, so everyone receives clear and relevant information about what working from the office will look like for them.
I want to point out something very important:
Long before 2020, COVID, and the WFH era, Wix has always been a very flexible work place.
This will NOT change. However, this flexibility isn’t about everyone taking a day at home; rather, it’s based on personal needs and managers’ attentiveness to their people’s needs. Some people who live very far from the office may need different considerations. Others may go through specific periods that require more flexibility on where to work from, and for all of us “life happens” every now and then. Kids get sick, family may require attention, and unexpected things come up.
Managers will keep working with you to ensure you have what you need. If something personal comes up, talk to your manager or HR. We’ll handle it together, the same way we always have.
Wix has always been at its best when we’re around each other — learning, building, laughing, solving things, creating things.
I’m really looking forward to bringing that energy back into the office every day.
Nir




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Kaila Yu

I’m a business immigration lawyer. I’m telling my clients that if you have a valid visa stamp, return to the US now.

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This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tahmina Watson, a business immigration lawyer in Seattle. Business Insider has verified Watson’s employment history with documentation. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I’m a business immigration lawyer, and in my day-to-day work with clients, I’m seeing immigration disruptions with immediate consequences, including H-1B visa holders who are outside the US being uncertain if they can return.

​​My law firm, Watson Immigration Law, assists founders and businesses in navigating the employment visa application process. It appears that, at this time, the administration is coordinating the rescheduling and delay of immigration appointments.

Non-immigrant visas generally must be scheduled at a US embassy or consulate in the person’s country of nationality or residence. From my experience, many employees accrue their holiday time and schedule immigration appointments during this period because they’re already planning to leave the country, allowing them to easily visit their designated US embassy or consulate.

These employees are now getting stuck, having already left the US, with their appointments getting rescheduled for June, July, or August 2026, and beyond.

A large group of H-1B work visa holders is stuck outside the country

Major tech companies, including Google, Apple, and Microsoft, sent memos out to their employees in the past week, warning visa-holding employees to avoid international travel amid long delays at US consulates. These policies are coming one after another, and they all intersect with each other.

The policies have created:

  • Visa-stamping delays at US embassies and consulates.
  • Expanded vetting and processing backlogs at consulates.
  • Increased risk that visa holders who travel cannot return to the US in a timely fashion.
  • Lack of guarantees once appointments are rescheduled.

If somebody is outside the country, what are employers supposed to do? Right now, my advice to clients outside the country is that if they have a valid visa stamp, they should return to the US as soon as possible.

We don’t know what changes could come, but I suggest that workers stuck abroad ask to work remotely

For someone who has left the country to obtain a new visa stamp, I’m not sure there’s a clear path to return. This includes individuals on F-1 student visas who traveled to visit family and were planning to re-enter the US. They will need that visa stamp from a consulate.

Ensure your employment is still active and consider whether remote work is an option. If an employer decides they cannot keep someone on the books, even an appointment months from now will not help if there’s no job waiting.

It’s tough to know how things will unfold. What we’re seeing is a confluence of policies coming in at the same time. For example, the Department of Homeland Security has just announced that it is replacing the lottery system for H-1B work visas, which randomly selects who receives a visa. The system is now set to prioritize higher-paid, higher-skilled workers.

Keeping social media accounts public is a good idea

Social media disclosure is being expanded from F-1 visa holders, which began during the student visa crisis, to now include H-1B workers. These applicants are required to change all social media privacy settings to public.

It could easily expand to other visa categories. The government has not provided clear guidance on what they are reviewing. By casting an overly broad net under the banner of national security, without clear standards or transparency, the administration is creating uncertainty that will ripple across families, employers, and the US economy.

Clients should limit what they post online.

My advice since November 2024 has remained the same: Avoid travel unless necessary

In 2024, I was already anticipating these issues with traveling and returning to the US. We’ve also seen issues affecting green card holders with past criminal convictions.

There are many stories of people who have lived in the US for decades, suddenly facing deportation proceedings. This is a highly precarious time for immigrants, and limiting travel is critical.

It feels like a fire hose of policies. Everyone in the immigrant ecosystem is on high alert: Immigration lawyers, immigrants, employers, investors, founders, and employees.




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Google warns some visa employees not to leave the US due to ‘significant’ return delays of up to a year

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Google has advised some employees on visas not to travel outside the US due to delays at embassies, Business Insider has learned.

The company’s outside counsel BAL Immigration Law sent an email on Thursday advising staff who require a visa stamp to re-enter the US not to leave the country because visa processing was taking longer than usual, according to a copy of the memo reviewed by Business Insider.

“Please be aware that some US Embassies and Consulates are experiencing significant visa stamping appointment delays, currently reported as up to 12 months,” the memo read. It was recommended that employees avoid international travel as they would “risk an extended stay outside the US.”

American consulates and embassies around the world are seeing delays with routine visa appointments following the introduction of a new social media screening requirement, which applies to H-1B visa workers and their dependents, as well as students and exchange visitors.

On Friday, a spokesperson for the Department of State told Business Insider it was conducting “online presence reviews for applicants.” The department said it may move appointments as resources change, with applicants able to request expedited slots on a case-by-case basis.

“While in the past the emphasis may have been on processing cases quickly and reducing wait times, our embassies and consulates around the world, including in India, are now prioritizing thoroughly vetting each visa case above all else,” the State Department spokesperson said. Appointments in Ireland and Vietnam have also been postponed, according to immigration firm Reddy Neumann Brown PC.

Google’s lawyers said in the memo that the delays were affecting H-1B, H-4, F, J, and M visas. The advisory did not specify what anyone on a visa already outside the country with a postponed appointment should do.

A Google spokesperson declined to comment.

How enhanced visa vetting can complicate a routine trip abroad

Google’s warning echoes a wave of internal travel advisories that swept through corporate America in September, as the Trump administration imposed a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas.

The H-1B visa typically lasts up to three years and can often be extended. If someone needs a new H-1B visa stamp, they typically must apply at a US embassy or consulate in their home country or a country where they have lawful residence.

As a general matter, said immigration attorney Jason Finkelman, who focuses on employment and family immigration, foreign nationals should be able to return to the US after travel abroad if they have a valid visa stamp and aren’t subject to any entry restrictions, including the Trump administration’s expanded travel ban, which the White House says takes effect January 1.

That’s where enhanced vetting can complicate an otherwise routine trip. If an H-1B worker leaves the US to get a new visa stamp and their consular appointment is canceled or delayed — sometimes by months — they can be stuck abroad until the visa is issued.

“My advice to clients is that if travel isn’t essential right now, better to stay put,” Finkelman said.

A spokesperson for the Department of State said consular officers “do not issue a visa unless the applicant can credibly demonstrate they meet all requirements under US law — including that they intend to engage only in activities consistent with the terms of their visa.”

The H-1B program, which is capped at 85,000 new visas a year, serves as a core pipeline for employers hiring skilled foreign workers. Tech giants have long been among the largest users of the visa, with companies such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta topping the lists of approved new H-1B petitions in recent years. 

Under the Trump administration, the program has become a political flash point, with the White House framing H-1Bs as a threat to American jobs and rolling out measures that critics and employers say make it harder and more expensive to hire new workers.




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