Month: May 2021

Merkel, Macron back efforts to improve WHO as meeting opens

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Level : Intermediate

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday were among leaders rallying around efforts to strengthen the World Health Organization and the world’s ability to prepare for and defend against pandemics.

It came as the U.N. health agency opened its annual assembly, with a draft resolution in the works that acknowledges missteps in the response to COVID-19. The sweeping proposal would seek to boost pandemic response, stabilize WHO’s funding and ensure greater access to health care — including to vaccines, tests and treatments linked to the coronavirus.
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Renowned conservationist Jane Goodall wins Templeton Prize

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By DAVID CRARY AP National Writer

Jane Goodall, the conservationist renowned for her expertise on chimpanzees and her globe-spanning advocacy of environmental causes, was named Thursday as this year’s winner of the prestigious Templeton Prize, honoring individuals whose life’s work embodies a fusion of science and spirituality.

Goodall, born in London in 1934, traveled to Kenya in 1957 and met the famed anthropologist and paleontologist Louis Leakey. In 1960, at his invitation, she began her groundbreaking study of chimpanzees in what is now Tanzania.

Her field research revolutionized the field of primatology, helping transform how scientists and the public perceive the emotional and social complexity of animals. She was the first to observe that chimpanzees engage in activities previously believed to be exclusive to humans, such as creating tools, and she demonstrated that they have individual personalities.
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Vote? Not yet. Invest? Yes. Fidelity launches teen accounts

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NEW YORK (AP) — Looking to draw in the next generation of investors, Fidelity Investments is launching a new type of account for teenagers to save, spend and invest their money.

The account is for 13- to 17-year-olds, and it will allow them to deposit cash, have a debit card and trade stocks and funds. The teens can make their own trades through a simplified experience on Fidelity’s mobile app, with zero account fees or minimum balances, though the youth account requires a parent or guardian to have their own Fidelity account as well.
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Spain adopts landmark law to protect ‘gig’ delivery workers

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By ARITZ PARRA and RENATA BRITO Associated Press

MADRID (AP) — Spain approved a pioneering law Tuesday that gives delivery platforms a mid-August deadline to hire workers currently freelancing for them and that requires transparency of artificial intelligence used to manage workforces.

The royal decree passed by the center-left ruling coalition immediately affects some 30,000 couriers. It comes in the wake of a ruling by Spain’s top court last year and at a time when other countries in Europe and elsewhere are deciding on a labor model for the so-called gig economy, which is often blamed for precarious jobs and low salaries.
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UK foreign secretary calls for cooperation on cybersecurity

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By MIKE FULLER Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Wednesday urged global cooperation to combat cyberattacks by “hostile state actors” and criminal gangs.

Raab also pledged 22 million pounds ($31 million) in support to “vulnerable” countries in Africa and the Indo-Pacific to improve their digital defense capacity.

He said Britain and the West must step up on cybersecurity or face the “multilateral vacuum” being filled by China and Russia.

“We need the combination of resilient defenses but also offensive capabilities, and the global diplomatic clout which comes with being a modern cyberpower,” Raab said in a speech at a National Cyber Security Centre conference in London.

He said the funding would go to national cyber response teams, awareness campaigns and an Interpol operations hub in Africa.
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