View time : 1 min 44
Level : Intermediate
View time : 1 min 44
Level : Intermediate
Read time : 3 mins
Level : Intermediate
By TRISHA THOMAS and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS Associated Press
ROME (AP) — The Italian tourism ministry thought it had a sure-fire way to bring travelers into the country: turning a 15th century art icon into a 21st century “virtual influencer.”
The digital rendition of Venus, goddess of love, based on Sandro Botticelli’s Renaissance masterpiece “Birth of Venus,” can be seen noshing on pizza and snapping selfies for her Instagram page. Unlike the original, this Venus is fully clothed. The influencer claims to be 30, or “maybe just a wee bit (older) than that.”
But the new ad campaign is facing significant backlash — with critics calling it a “new Barbie” that trashes Italy’s cultural heritage.
The tourist campaign “trivializes our heritage in the most vulgar way, transforming Botticelli’s Venus into yet another stereotyped female beauty,” Livia Garomersini, an art historian and activist with Mi Riconosci, an art and heritage campaign organization, said in a response to the project last month. Continue reading
Read time : 3 mins
Level : Advanced
By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Americans have bet over $220 billion on sports with legal gambling outlets in the five years since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for all 50 states to offer it, and the industry shows few signs of slowing despite some recent scandals that have put a spotlight on wagering safeguards.
When Sunday’s anniversary of the court ruling in a case brought by New Jersey arrives, two-thirds of the country will offer legal sports betting, with additional states likely to join in coming months or years.
The fast-growing industry is also far-reaching: its advertisements reach into most U.S. homes during sporting events and even non-sports programming. Few TV viewers have been spared from repeated ads featuring a Caesar character discussing sports gambling with members of the Manning football dynasty, or from actor Jamie Foxx placing sports bets in between takes on a film set. Continue reading
View time: 2 min 23
Level : Advanced
View time : 1 min 40
Level : Intermediate
Read time : 3 mins
Level : Intermediate
By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European economy scraped out meager growth in the first three months of the year, barely gaining momentum as stubborn inflation raises the price of groceries and erodes people’s willingness to spend paychecks that are failing to keep pace.
Friday’s less-than-stellar increase of 0.1% from the previous quarter follows disappointing growth estimates from the U.S., which kept alive fears of a looming recession in the world’s largest economy.
The 20 countries that use the euro currency picked up a little speed from January through March after zero growth in the last three months of 2022. The eurozone avoided a winter recession thanks to mild weather that alleviated pressure on natural gas supplies.
European governments and utilities also scrambled to line up additional sources to heat homes, generate electricity and power factories after Russia cut off most of its supply to the continent over its war against Ukraine. Continue reading
View time: 2 min 34
Level : Advanced
Read time : 3 mins
Level : Advanced
By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Regulators seized troubled First Republic Bank early Monday, making it the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history, and promptly sold all of its deposits and most of its assets to JPMorgan Chase in a bid to end the turmoil that has raised questions about the health of the U.S. banking system.
It’s the third midsize bank to fail in less than two months. The only larger bank failure in U.S. history was Washington Mutual, which collapsed at the height of the 2008 financial crisis and was also taken over by JPMorgan in a similar government-orchestrated deal.
“Our government invited us and others to step up, and we did,” said Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase. Continue reading