Struggling to raise funds for the restoration of his cathedral’s antique organ, a priest from St.-Flour, a small town in France’s heartland, came up with a creative solution. He turned one of the bell towers into a curing workshop where farmers could hang their hams to dry.For nearly two years, after being blessed by a local bishop, pork legs swayed in peace in the dry air of the cathedral’s north tower, bringing in much-needed funds and delighting charcuterie lovers. Then an inspector for the organization that oversees France’s architectural heritage stepped in.After noticing a grease stain on the floor of…
Author: Team_Benjamin Franklin Institute
Jan. 11: This article was updated to reflect a one-day postponement of the test launch.The foundational building block for Jeff Bezos’ space dreams is finally ready to launch.A New Glenn rocket — built by Blue Origin, the rocket company that Mr. Bezos started nearly a quarter century ago — is sitting on a launchpad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It is as tall as a 32-story building, and its voluminous nose cone can carry larger satellites and other payloads than other rockets in operation today.In the predawn darkness on Monday, it may head to space for the…
Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldThe IMF has warned that jitters surrounding Donald Trump’s threat to impose trade tariffs were driving up longer-term borrowing costs and would add to pressures facing the global economy in 2025. Speaking to reporters in Washington on Friday, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said global economic policy faced “quite a lot of uncertainty” in 2025, particularly around the trade policy of the world’s largest economy. “That uncertainty is actually expressed globally through higher long-term interest rates,” Georgieva said, although she noted…
Credit: Screenshot via PowerfulJRECredit: Screenshot via PowerfulJRE Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) continued his improbable run as the lone Democrat in the chamber with common sense, announcing that he’s accepted an invitation from President-elect Donald Trump to meet at Mar-a-Lago. Fetterman’s rationale for the meeting is straightforward; he views it as a reasonable conversation with the soon-to-be president. And, as he points out, his constituency doesn’t consist exclusively of Democrats. “That is the plan. Yes, we are going to have a conversation,” Fetterman told CBS News. “I think that one, he’s the president, or he will be officially,” Fetterman added. “And…
Mandy Moore, beloved actress and singer, has found herself at the center of a heated online debate after sharing a GoFundMe campaign to support her brother-in-law’s family, who lost their home in the devastating California wildfires.While many sympathized with the cause and praised Moore for stepping up during a time of need, others criticized the star, questioning why a millionaire would turn to the public for donations. The backlash intensified on social media, with some labeling her plea as “tone-deaf” and accusing her of being out of touch with the struggles of everyday people.Despite the criticism, Mandy Moore has stood…
Parts of the party have attracted the attention of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency for possible right-wing extremism. The academic institutions which signed Friday’s statement include Berlin’s Humboldt University and a number of faculties which had already stopped using X, such as Berlin’s Freie Universitaet. “Changes on the X platform make it untenable to use it any further,” they said, citing as an example the use of algorithms to boost “right-wing populist” content. Two universities in the Austrian city of Innsbruck also put their names to the statement, which said the withdrawal from X “underlines the institutions’ efforts for the sake…
Former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and former central banker Mark Carney poised to seek party leadership.The party of outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that it will choose a new leader on March 9 ahead of the 2025 general elections. The Liberal Party’s National Board of Directors formally met on Thursday evening to discuss and outline the initial rules of the upcoming leadership race. “After a robust and secure nation-wide process, the Liberal Party of Canada will choose a new leader on March 9, and be ready to fight and win the 2025 election,” the party said in a…
Las Vegas Raiders general manager Tom Telesco was thought to be safe for another season by most observers, even after the team fired head coach Antonio Pierce. That changed on Thursday, and now we know why. In an appearance on ESPN’s “NFL Live,” Adam Schefter offered some context on why the Raiders decided to part ways with Telesco after just one season. According to Schefter, Raiders leadership was concerned that Telesco’s presence would be a deterrent to some potential head coach candidates. “The Raiders … clearly prefer that the head coach and GM come in together at the same time,…
It’s September 2026, and the Pentagon is alarmed. Its spy satellites have detected a rapid, large-scale buildup of Chinese naval and amphibious forces across the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese government’s intentions are unclear, but military leaders in Washington hope that a show of American force will maintain deterrence.This is not a far-fetched concern. Chinese invasion preparations would almost certainly be visible to the American military, and there would be an urgent need to try to prevent war.In this scenario, the Pentagon cancels leave, orders ships in Hawaii and San Diego to make ready to sail west, and places Marine units…
What if AI could apply to jobs for you by crafting custom cover letters and resumes tailored to each job description, and get you an interview?It might be possible. One Reddit user, who has since deleted their account name after posting about their experiences on the “Get Employed” community five months ago, created an AI bot to automatically apply to 1,000 jobs on their behalf. The bot applied to the jobs—and got the user 50 interviews in one month.The AI took in the person’s information, like where they worked and their educational background, and automatically applied to jobs by generating…