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Author: natixis-ezine
Google agreed to pay millions for California news. Journalists call it a bad deal
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Level : Advanced
By TRÂN NGUYỄN Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Google will soon give California millions of dollars to help pay for local journalism jobs in a first-in-the-nation deal, but journalists and other media industry experts are calling it a disappointing agreement that mostly benefits the tech giant.
The agreement, which was hashed out behind closed doors and announced this week, will direct tens of millions of public and private dollars to keep local news organizations afloat. Critics say it’s a textbook political maneuver by tech giants to avoid a fee under what could have been groundbreaking legislation. California lawmakers agreed to kill a bill requiring tech to support news outlets they profit from in exchange for Google’s financial commitment. Continue reading
Microplastics are everywhere but are they harming us?
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Level : Intermediate
By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Microplastics have been found in the ocean and the air, in our food and water. They have been found in a wide range of body tissues, including the heart, liver, kidneys and even testicles.
But are they actually harming you?
Evidence suggests they might, but it’s limited in scope. Some researchers are worried, but acknowledge there are lots of unanswered questions.
Dr. Marya Zlatnik, a San Francisco-based obstetrician who has studied environmental toxins and pregnancy, has seen studies raising concerns about microplastics’ impact on the health of babies and adults. Continue reading
See Bulgaria’s stunningly preserved UNESCO World Heritage church frescoes
View time : 1 min 34
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Older adults prepare for a world altered by AI
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Too many people, not enough management: A look at the chaos of ‘overtourism’ in the summer of 2024
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Level : Advanced
By LAURIE KELLMAN Associated Press
SINTRA, Portugal (AP) — The doorbell to Martinho de Almada Pimentel’s house is hard to find, and he likes it that way. It’s a long rope that, when pulled, rings a literal bell on the roof that lets him know someone is outside the mountainside mansion that his great-grandfather built in 1914 as a monument to privacy.
There’s precious little of that for Pimentel during this summer of “overtourism.”
Travelers idling in standstill traffic outside the sunwashed walls of Casa do Cipreste sometimes spot the bell and pull the string “because it’s funny,” he says. With the windows open, he can smell the car exhaust and hear the “tuk-tuk” of outsized scooters named for the sound they make. And he can sense the frustration of 5,000 visitors a day who are forced to queue around the house on the crawl up single-lane switchbacks to Pena Palace, the onetime retreat of King Ferdinand II. Continue reading
One thing that hasn’t changed in Hollywood: male characters still more than double female ones
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Level : Intermediate
By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — In recent years the movie industry has gone through the streaming revolution, the pandemic, labor strikes and “Barbenheimer.” But after countless upheavals in Hollywood, you’re still more than twice as likely to see male speaking characters in theatrical releases than you are female ones.
Just 32% of speaking characters in the top 100 movies at the box office in 2023 were women or girls, according to the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative annual report released Monday. That’s very nearly the same percentage as when Stacy L. Smith first began the study in 2007. Then, it was 30% of speaking characters. Continue reading
Warming waters threaten Galapagos’ unique species
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Level : Intermediate
UN asks nations to better prepare as ‘extreme heat epidemic’ breaks records
View time: 1 min 17
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From Paris to Los Angeles: How the city is preparing for the 2028 Olympics
Read time : 3 mins
Level : Advanced
By JAIMIE DING and ANDREW DALTON Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — It’s Los Angeles’ turn for the torch. Mayor Karen Bass accepted the Olympic flag at the Paris closing ceremony Sunday, before handing it off to a key representative of LA’s local business — Tom Cruise — who in a pre-recorded trek via motorcycle, plane and parachute kicked off the countdown to 2028.
The city will become the third in the world to host the games three times as it adds to the storied years of 1932 and 1984. Here’s a look forward and back in time at the Olympics in LA. Continue reading