By Jack Guy, CNN

(CNN) — “Slop,” a term used to describe low-quality digital content, has been named word of the year by the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

The dictionary defines slop as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.” A statement from Merriam-Webster cites examples such as absurd videos, talking cats and AI-written books.

Merriam-Webster is the latest in a string of dictionaries to choose words of the year based on our relationship with technology and artificial intelligence. Collins’ word of the year “vibe coding,” Cambridge’s “parasocial” and Oxford’s “rage bait” all reflect contemporary concerns about the effects of tech on our lives.

First used in the 1700s to mean “soft mud,” “slop” then came to mean “food waste” in the 1800s before taking on a more general meaning of “rubbish” or “a product of little or no value,” according to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Merriam-Webster’s statement acknowledges that slop in the modern day divides opinions.

“People found it annoying, and people ate it up,” reads the statement, which goes on to discuss the almost mocking tone behind the term.

“The word sends a little message to AI: when it comes to replacing human creativity, sometimes you don’t seem too superintelligent,” it reads.

Other candidates for word of the year included “gerrymander,” meaning “to divide a state, school district, etc. into political units or election districts that give one group or political party an unfair advantage,” which came to the fore in the United States this year as both Republican and Democrat politicians used redistricting to gain political advantage.

Editors also considered choosing the phrase “touch grass,” which means “to participate in normal activities in the real world especially as opposed to online experiences and interactions.”

While it was previously used as an insult against those perceived to be spending too much time online, the phrase became “something of an aspiration” this year as an increasing number of people took steps to reduce their screen time, said Merriam-Webster’s statement.

Another candidate was “performative,” which the dictionary defines as “made or done for show (as to bolster one’s own image or make a positive impression on others).”

While many things have been described as performative, the most common uses include the idea of a “performative male,” or a man who tries to attract women by doing things that he believes they will like, such as “carrying feminist literature in a tote bag,” said Merriam-Webster.

Last year, the dictionary chose “polarization” as its word of the year, meaning “division into two sharply distinct opposites,” which was heavily used to describe the fraught state of American politics and society.

In 2023, the dictionary chose “authentic” as its word of the year, following a “substantial increase” in online searches for the word thanks to “stories and conversations about AI, celebrity culture, identity, and social media.”

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Por Alicia Wallace, CNN

El desempleo alcanzó su máximo en cuatro años, el 4,6 % en noviembre, y la economía creó 64.000 empleos, según mostraron nuevos datos de la Oficina de Estadísticas Laborales de EE.UU., este martes.

El total de empleos del mes pasado se produjo tras una pérdida de 105.000 puestos de trabajo en octubre. Los datos de ese mes se incluyeron en el informe de empleo del martes, después de que el cierre del Gobierno complicara la recopilación de datos.

La pérdida de empleos en octubre se debió en parte a las renuncias diferidas del Departamento de Eficiencia Gubernamental, implementadas a principios de este año, pero que entraron en vigor el 30 de septiembre.

Por primera vez en casi 80 años, no se publicó la tasa de desempleo de octubre debido a la falta de recopilación de datos durante el cierre del Gobierno.

Los economistas esperaban una ganancia neta de 40.000 empleos para noviembre y que la tasa de desempleo se mantuviera sin cambios respecto a la tasa de septiembre del 4,4 %, según FactSet.

Esta historia está en desarrollo y será actualizada.

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Por Laura Sharman y Jessie Yeung, CNN

El transeúnte que le arrebató el arma a uno de los presuntos atacantes durante el tiroteo masivo en Bondi Beach fue identificado como Ahmed al Ahmed, cuyos padres, refugiados, acababan de llegar de Siria, según funcionarios y medios de comunicación australianos.

Ahmed, de 43 años y padre de dos niñas, arriesgó su vida al enfrentarse a un presunto tirador y arrebatarle el arma durante el ataque del domingo, lo que provocó una ola de donaciones del público para apoyarlo a él y a su familia.

Posteriormente, fue herido de bala por uno de los dos atacantes, un padre e hijo que protagonizaron un tiroteo en la playa contra una reunión de la comunidad judía y bañistas, que dejó al menos 15 muertos y decenas de heridos.

Un dramático video del enfrentamiento, que ha sido visto millones de veces en las redes sociales, muestra a Ahmed agachado detrás de un coche, para luego abalanzarse sobre el tirador que acababa de disparar. Las sirenas sonaban y se oían disparos mientras los dos hombres forcejeaban durante varios segundos, antes de que Ahmed le arrebatara el arma al atacante.

Luego, Ahmed apuntó con el arma al atacante, quien retrocedió.

El primer ministro australiano, Anthony Albanese, publicó una foto en X dándole la mano a Ahmed mientras el padre de dos hijas yacía en una cama de hospital, con el brazo izquierdo fuertemente vendado.

“Ahmed, eres un héroe australiano”, escribió Albanese.

“Te pusiste en riesgo para salvar a otros, corriendo hacia el peligro en Bondi Beach y desarmando a un terrorista. En los peores momentos, vemos lo mejor de los australianos. Y eso es exactamente lo que vimos el domingo por la noche”.

Miles de personas han donado hasta el momento más de 1,4 millones de dólares australianos (alrededor de US$ 930.000) a una página de GoFundMe creada para apoyar a Ahmed “durante su recuperación” y para “honrar a este héroe absoluto”, según la plataforma de financiación colectiva.

GoFundMe confirmó a CNN el lunes que estaba trabajando “directamente con los organizadores de la recaudación de fondos para garantizar que los fondos recaudados lleguen de forma segura a Ahmed y su familia”.

El lunes, el primer ministro de Nueva Gales del Sur, Chris Minns, también publicó una foto de Ahmed recuperándose de sus heridas en el hospital. “Ahmed es un héroe de la vida real. Anoche, su increíble valentía sin duda salvó innumerables vidas al desarmar a un terrorista con un enorme riesgo personal”, escribió Minns en Facebook. “Fue un honor pasar tiempo con él hace un momento y transmitirle el agradecimiento de la gente de todo Nueva Gales del Sur. No cabe duda de que se habrían perdido más vidas de no ser por el valiente acto de Ahmed. Gracias, Ahmed”.

Los padres de Ahmed dijeron que recibió varios disparos en el hombro, y que algunas balas aún permanecen alojadas en su cuerpo, según la cadena nacional australiana ABC. Se habían mudado de Siria a Sydney hacía solo unos meses, aunque su hijo había llegado a Australia en 2006, según declararon a la ABC. No está claro si la familia de Ahmed es siria o de otra nacionalidad.

Añadieron que Ahmed tenía dos hijas, de tres y seis años, y que habría hecho cualquier cosa por proteger a cualquiera.

“Cuando hizo lo que hizo, no pensó en la procedencia de las personas a las que estaba salvando, las personas que morían en la calle”, dijo el padre de Ahmed. “No discrimina entre una nacionalidad y otra. Especialmente aquí en Australia, no hay diferencia entre un ciudadano y otro”.

Hablando a las afueras del Hospital St George, el primo de Ahmed, Mustafa, declaró a 7News que se encontraba bien, pero que aún no había sido operado.

“Sin duda es un héroe. Sin duda, porque quizás arriesgó su vida para salvar a otras personas”, dijo

By Jane Wooldridge, CNN

Altamura, Italy (CNN) — A pair of practiced hands pushes novice fingers into the stretchy dough, encouraging the boldness needed to coax the focaccia into the pan’s creases before mashing in juicy tomatoes and garlic. After a sprinkling of dried oregano and a generous splash of olive oil, the pan is ready for the wood-fired oven.

My teacher is Graziella Incampo, Italy’s answer to Julia Child. At 89, Incampo and her childhood friend Teresa Calia, 88, have become a social media sensation, drawing millions of Instagram views and heaven-knows-how many visitors to this region’s oldest bakery.

Quirky videos showcase the pair as they dance to electronic music, play a guitar and mix margaritas in a wheelbarrow. They fill a yards-long loaf with fresh stracciatella cheese, grate tomatoes on top and finish it off with coppa ham. For their cooking lesson on parmigiana, Calia dons a vintage war helmet while Incampo wears yellow goggles as they fry up sliced eggplant, whipping the egg wash with a fork attached to a drill. Belissima!

Their “set” is a shady barrel-vault and medieval courtyard across a narrow stone lane from Antico Forno Santa Caterina, founded in 1307 in the medieval walled city of Altamura. I’m part of the forno’s “Bread Experience,” a bespoke culinary foray into history, baking, cheese-making and herbal remedies.

But you don’t have to join the tour to sample the baked bounty. The made-for-video dishes are shared with noshers who have snagged a table under the vault, where they indulge in focaccia, orecchiette and sandwiches purchased from the bakery. The line to get into the small shop sometimes stretches down the lane and into Altamura’s main pedestrian street. When the queue is long, Incampo and Calia fill a platter with fresh-baked crackers and serve them to those who are waiting.

Everything was delicious

Many visitors, like Galina Nankova of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, found the forno on social media. “I took it as a sign. Within a month I had planned a trip to Bari with my boyfriend,” she wrote via Instagram messenger. “I made sure to add Altamura — and especially Forno Santa Caterina — to our must-see list.”

Nankova and other visitors rave about meeting the nonnas, who count 45 grandchildren between them. “I didn’t expect it to be so wonderful!” texted Juliana Nardella of Brazil, who visited earlier this year. “The place is authentic, nothing modified for tourism. My family and I sat down to lunch, with breads and focaccia baked in the Santa Caterina oven, as well as orecchiette with tomato sauce and roast chicken. For dessert, we had homemade cookies. Everything was delicious!

“And the big surprise: Graziella and Teresa were there! They were very kind.”

The wildly popular videos started “as a kind of joke,” says Incampo’s great-nephew, Giacomo Barattini, who creates the Reels with his iPhone. He and a group of hometown friends were lamenting the closure of the town’s oldest bakery and decided to do something about it. They pooled resources and reopened it in 2023.

Barattini engaged his great-aunt and her friend to help spread the word with their infectious sense of fun. The nonnas enjoyed making the videos so much, it became a daily ritual.

Nonna wisdom: ‘The little things are good’

“The two nonnas, they’re very funny and happy e

By Jacqui Palumbo, CNN

(CNN) — When the Obama Presidential Center opens on Chicago’s South Side in the spring, a series of large-scale artworks and installations by some of America’s most important living artists will help set the tone of the nearly 20-acre cultural and civic complex.

The latest to be announced, by the artist Theaster Gates, will be a monumental portrait of Black life — and an ode to Black women, in particular — drawn from two vast photographic archives of vintage editorial images from Ebony and Jet magazines.

The long, two-part frieze, featuring images printed on aluminum alloy, will hang inside the center’s Forum Building. The atrium where it will be located will host public events and is named after Hadiya Pendleton, the teenage majorette who marched in former President Obama’s second inauguration parade and died by gun violence days later in 2013.

Gates’ frieze will be seen by passersby as well from Stony Island Avenue — a South Side thoroughfare with a rich cultural history that is also home to Gates’ gallery and archival space, the Stony Island Arts Bank, which is part of his larger foundation, Rebuild.

For nearly a decade, the Chicago-born artist has been the caretaker of the images and periodicals from the Johnson Publishing Company, the now defunct Black-owned media powerhouse behind Ebony and Jet magazines, which sold off its assets in 2016. Both publications began as vital sources of news, visual culture, beauty and style for Black Americans following World War II, and, as Gates explained in a video call, “amplified the dignity and the life of Black folk.”

Gates has continually returned to the Johnson Publishing Company’s archive in his work, including most recently at dual exhibitions at the Smart Museum of Art (on view until February) and the Gray Chicago gallery. At the Obama Presidential Center, he has selected some 20 images from that archive, in addition to portraits by Howard Simmons, a groundbreaking commercial photographer and photojournalist who shot for the Johnson Publishing Company as well as the Chicago Sun-Times and whom Gates met around three years ago.

“When given this opportunity to think about what I have to offer, I think that the archive — the photojournalistic and artistic ambition of Black creatives in the ’60s and ’70s is an unmatched period,” he said of his new works for the center. “People were taking photos not to make money, but to keep culture alive and tell the story of culture.”

He described the work as “something old and something new,” as he recontextualizes them within this larger artwork, playing with scale and material. “These images are not just historic artifacts; they are the foundational images of Black life,” he explained.

Art as a ‘great connector’

The center’s curator of art commissions, Virginia Shore, said that Gates’ use of the images “underscores the power and possibility of Black modernity, particularly in Chicago.”

According to Shore, the former president has been extensively involved with selecting each commissioned artist and the discussions around the works. In September, the center announced the participation of renowned artists Nick Cave, Jenny Holzer and Kiki Smith, among seven others. A year prior, it revealed that the painter Julie Mehretu would work with glass for the first time to create an 83-foot-tall window comprising 35 painted abstract panels.

“During the Obama administration, we saw that art and artists were so important to the Obamas and their mission,” said Louise Bernard, director of the museum of the Obama Presidential Center, on a joint video call with Shore. “We know that art is just such a great connector. It convenes people, it engages them to think about ideas in new and creative ways. And so we are building a presidential center unlike any other — the whole site is being activated by