Pope Challenge, Sunken Treasure, & Bear Shopper

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Adam Rogers
October 03, 2025

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Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, criticized US political positions for the first time since his May election, saying those against abortion but supporting the death penalty are 'not really pro-life.' He also questioned whether opposing abortion while supporting 'inhuman treatment of immigrants' qualifies as pro-life.
The comments came during controversy over Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich's plan to honor Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin for immigration work. Conservative bishops objected because Durbin supports abortion rights. Durbin subsequently declined the award. Catholic teaching opposes both abortion and capital punishment while calling for humane treatment of migrants.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected the pope's concerns about immigrant treatment, saying the administration “enforces laws in the most humane way possible.' Cupich said US Catholics 'find themselves politically homeless' since neither party fully reflects Catholic teaching.

OpenAI released Sora 2, an AI app that creates photorealistic videos with speech from text prompts and allows users to insert cameos of themselves and others. It became the top iOS photo and video app within a day
Users immediately created videos featuring copyrighted characters like Mario and Princess Peach without permission, exposing a fundamental problem with OpenAI's approach. The company requires copyright holders to opt out by submitting examples rather than offering blanket protections. However, legal experts say this violates copyright law.
The app exposes OpenAI to copyright challenges beyond its existing lawsuits from authors and The New York Times. The company adds watermarks and metadata to identify AI-generated content, but acknowledges these can be 'easily removed either accidentally or intentionally.'

More than 1,000 silver and gold coins worth about $1 million were recovered from an 18th-century Spanish shipwreck off Florida's coast. Salvage company 1715 Fleet Queens Jewels found the coins this summer, which are part of a $400 million treasure fleet lost during a 1715 hurricane. The coins, known as pieces of eight, were minted in Spanish colonies of Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia.
The coins were found scattered in concentrated areas deep in sand, believed to have spilled from a single chest when the ship broke apart. Many still bear visible dates and mint marks. A royal lead seal bearing Philip II's impression was also recovered.
Recovered coins will undergo conservation before public display in exhibits at local museums. Finding 1,000 coins in a single recovery is considered rare and extraordinary by salvage experts.

The White House asked nine elite universities to adopt Trump's policies on admissions, gender, and free speech in exchange for more federal funding and favorable grant access. (More)

Tennessee set execution dates for four inmates, including Christa Pike, the only woman on death row, who was convicted at 18 for a 1995 torture killing. (More)

Two Delta regional jets clipped wings while taxiing at LaGuardia Airport on Wednesday night, causing one minor injury among the 93 people aboard both planes. (More)

Israel stopped 43 aid boats heading to Gaza and detained 443 people, including Greta Thunberg, in a flotilla attempting to break an Israeli blockade on Thursday. (More)

Armed security forces abducted two Kenyan activists at a Uganda gas station after they attended campaign rallies for opposition leader Bobi Wine. (More)

UK Police called it terrorism after a man killed two and injured four by ramming a car into worshippers outside a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur before officers shot him. (More)

US stock markets closed higher on Thursday (S&P +0.06%, Nasdaq +0.39%, Dow +0.17%). All three indexes closed at record highs on the second day of the government shutdown. (More)

Berkshire Hathaway is buying Occidental Petroleum's chemical division for $9.7 billion in what could be Warren Buffett's last major deal before handing CEO duties to Greg Abel in January. (More)

Intel shares jumped 50% this month, pushing the stock past $37 and boosting the government’s $8.9 billion August investment to roughly $16 billion in value. (More)

The Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres 3-1 in Game 3 to win their wild card series and advance to face Milwaukee. (More) | Detroit bested Cleveland 6-3 and move on to face Seattle in the division round. (More) | The Yankees shut out the Red Sox 4-0 to win their wild card series and advance to face Toronto. (More)

Jon Gruden's lawsuit against the NFL will proceed to a public trial after Nevada's Supreme Court unanimously rejected the league's appeal to have a closed-door arbitration. (More)

Netflix's "KPop Demon Hunters" broke the record for longest consecutive run on the English-language film chart at 15 weeks, surpassing "Red Notice" and never dropping below second place. (More)

People who sleep poorly, stay up late, or get too little sleep have brains that scan nearly a year older than their actual age, a study of 27,000 found. (More)

Scientists proved pianists can change a piano's sound quality through how they touch keys, solving a century-old debate by measuring finger movements at incredibly precise speeds. (More)

A rogue planet that doesn't orbit a star is devouring material eight times faster than before, hitting six billion tons per second in the fastest planetary growth ever seen. (More)

Every strawberry traces back to a secret 18th-century spy mission.

The most popular Halloween costumes this year.

Bear goes shopping in an Arizona grocery store. (w/video)

McDonald’s is bringing back the Monopoly game.

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