Pope Leo XIV delivers a sermon A couple of weeks ago, the British magazine Economist commissioned a survey from the international sociological service YouGov to find out who the most popular public figure in the United States is. It turned out to be Pope Leo XIV. The same one with whom Donald Trump entered into controversy in connection with the war against Iran. This dispute seems to have subsided, but is not settled.

Kenedy County, Texas, named after 19th-century shipowner Miffin Kenedy, has 259 registered voters. State law does not require voters to indicate their party affiliation, so we don't know how many are Democrats and how many are Republicans. Eight (8) people came to the second round of the Republican primaries for the Senate elections. Six voted for current Senator John Cornyn, two for Ken Paxton, who is actively supported by Donald Trump.

Artificial intelligence, collage In this year's US election campaign, concerns about the rapid and uncontrolled development of artificial intelligence have come to the fore. For many Americans, it has resulted in a deterioration in the quality of life, and some see AI as a threat to democracy. With pitchforks on the oligarchs In the summer of 2014, American entrepreneur and venture capitalist Nick Hanauer published an appeal to “fellow zillionaires” in Politico.

Vladimir Abarinov opens the second season of the podcast with a story about the international success of Reinhold Gliere’s opera “The Red Poppy” and a conversation with the composer’s great-grandson Kirill Novoselsky. Replay of the broadcast from September 19, 2021.

Unknown artist. Baker from Eklo. Flanders. XVI century. Not a day goes by without us hearing some news about Elon Musk. Given his status, this is not surprising. Another thing is strange: these news most often talk about his eccentric antics. But what is really in his head?

Her parents brought her from America to the Soviet Union as a little girl. The girl grew up and learned to be strong. She achieved fame, received all the regalia possible for an artist, and then returned to her homeland. Replay of the broadcast from June 23, 2021.

A descendant of immigrants from the Russian Empire, George Gershwin gained fame in America, but there is a “Russian trace” in his creative destiny, which ultimately led him to the opposite address. Replay of the broadcast from June 09, 2021.

Graham Platner meets with voters With six months left until the US Congressional elections, both parties are campaigning aggressively. A historical pattern is on the side of the Democrats: the presidential party, as a rule, loses the first midterm elections after the election of the president. On the Republican side are administrative opportunities in many problem states. Until recently, it was believed that Democrats had a high chance of winning a majority in the lower house.

American Sophie Treadwell was invited to Moscow in 1933 for the premiere of the play based on her play “Machinal”. Her sympathies for the Soviet regime played an important role in the invitation to the USSR, but Soviet propaganda failed to make Treadwell its agent of influence. Replay of the broadcast from May 26, 2021.

Jan Leuken. Christian captives are sold at a slave market in Algeria. 1684 The saga around the Strait of Hormuz brings to mind that the entire Mediterranean Sea was once controlled by the Muslim rulers of North Africa. European states paid them tribute for free trade. And only young independent America accepted the military challenge. In September 1785, the US ambassador to France, Thomas Jefferson, received a letter from Algeria.

Both then and now, Russia is jealous of the success of its former subjects and seeks to return them, if not during their lifetime, then in the form of remains. Replay of the broadcast from May 12, 2021.

Alex Karp Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies, a data analytics software company with close ties to the defense industry, issued a manifesto responding to accusations that his company is helping to create a police state in the United States.

Books, like people, have their own destinies. Some flash like a bright meteor and disappear, forgotten. Others are patiently waiting in the wings. Other manuscripts emigrate and return to their homeland in an aura of overseas glory. This is exactly what happened with Leonid Tsypkin’s book. Replay of the broadcast from April 28, 2021.

“One-Storey America” is the least studied work of Ilf and Petrov; much of their narrative remains behind the scenes or between the lines. Archival research in recent years has corrected our ideas about the goals and significance of the famous journey of Ilf and Petrov across America in the mid-1930s.

FBI Agent (illustrative photo) The lower house of the US Congress was unable to extend a key national security law. The majority faction, the Republicans, was prevented from doing so by dissidents within its own ranks. Just two years ago, Donald Trump was a vocal opponent of FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. “Kill FISA,” he urged legislators on his blog in April 2024, when the next deadline for extending the law approached, “it was illegally used against me and many others.