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Ditch the dating app. Meet an Irish town's 83-year-old mystical matchmaker.

Photo: CBS News

Lisdoonvarna, Ireland — For nearly two centuries, a small Irish town has lured singletons to a festival every September that sees hopeful romantics seek their one true love.

The monthlong matchmaking festival that started in 1857 has become a global event , attracting over 60,000 visitors annually to the rugged landscape of County Clare, and specifically to the tiny town of Lisdoonvarna.

The festival even broke into American pop culture, featuring several years ago on the sitcom "Schitt's Creek."

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USCBS News

AI agents are "very intelligent, charming sociopaths," Kevin Roose says

The world is awakening to the potential threats posed by artificial intelligence amid a barrage of reports about AI agents defying their human creators . In reality, however, the story stretches back to Silicon Valley, where AI was born. "What happened during the decade when AI went from being pretty dumb at most things to being able to solve century-old math and science problems?" Roose, formerly a longtime tech reporter at The New York Times and soon to be co-host of the forthcoming podcast "Machine Gods," told CBS News. "My feeling was, someone needs to write this all down."

USCBS News

U.S. layoffs drop nearly 40% in 2026 to four-year low, new data shows

Layoffs in the U.S. have fallen to a four-year low, while employers' hiring plans are up 3% this year, according to new labor data. Employers have announced 573,195 job cuts through September this year, a nearly 40% decline from the first nine months of 2025, Challenger, Gray & Christmas said on Thursday. On a monthly basis, layoffs dropped 20% in September to 43,281 from a year earlier, the lowest level in four years, the outplacement firm said.