View time : 1 min 54
Level : Intermediate
Author: natixis-ezine
In fight against Canada fires, dancing South Africa crews are a familiar and uplifting sight
Read time : 4 mins
Level : Intermediate
By NOAH BERGER Associated Press
FOX CREEK, Alberta (AP) — Some three dozen South African firefighters, clad in their bright yellow jackets and dark blue pants, danced, sang and cheered in a sprawling parking lot close by the majestic woods of central Alberta. The mood was light as the men and women smiled and clapped, some taking out smartphones to record video of their dancing colleagues before heading off to another day battling the fires raging through Canada.
The group gathered on an early July day in the small town of Fox Creek had traveled nearly 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) to help fight the hundreds of devastating wildfires that have burned homes and wild lands in the region, destroying an area about the size of the U.S. state of Virginia. They chanted and worked through drills before signing a Canadian flag presented to them as a token of thanks. Continue reading
A little-known but efficient way to heat your home
View time: 2 min 02
Level : Advanced
Hollywood plunges into all-out war on the heels of pandemic and a streaming revolution
Read time : 3 mins
Level : Advanced
By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — To get a sense of just how much animosity is flying around Hollywood these days, watch how Ron Perlman responded to a report that the studios aimed to prolong a strike long enough for writers to lose their homes.
Perlman, the hulking, gravel-voiced actor of “Hellboy,” leaned into the camera in a since-deleted Instagram live video to vent his anger. “Listen to me, mother-(expletive),” Perlman said. “There’s a lot of ways to lose your house.”
Three years after the pandemic brought Hollywood to a standstill, the film and TV industry has again ground to a halt. This time, though, the industry is engaged in a bitter battle over how streaming — after advancing rapidly during the pandemic — has upended the economics of entertainment. Continue reading
No more free coffee on your birthday? Companies rein in customer rewards programs — here’s why
Read time : 4 mins
Level : Intermediate
By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS AP Business Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Reward programs, including birthday freebies and discounts, have long been a way for brands to build loyalty and incentivize spending. But now some companies are becoming a bit more stingy — and customers are taking notice.
Last fall, for example, many balked at Dunkin’s decision to stop offering a free drink on their birthday and instead give them triple loyalty points on their purchase. On June 1, Sephora started requiring a $25 minimum purchase for online customers looking to claim a free gift and 250 loyalty points during their birthday month. And Red Robin added a dine-in only and $4.99 minimum purchase requirement for customers to get their free birthday burger.
Changes to birthday rewards or redemption requirements aren’t new. Starbucks, which gives its rewards members a free drink or food item for their birthdays, progressively limited the timeframe for redeeming that gift over the years — from 30 days, to one week, to four days and, finally, to just the date of your birthday in 2018. Continue reading
FDA asked to probe influencer-backed energy drink
View time : 1 min 33
Level : Intermediate
Meteorologists under threat for climate change coverage
View time: 2 min 02
Level : Advanced
‘Clone’ or competitor? Users and lawyers compare Twitter and Threads
Read time : 3 mins
Level : Advanced
By MATT O’BRIEN and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS The Associated Press
Just how similar is Instagram’s chatty new app, Threads, to Twitter?
In a cease-and-desist letter earlier this week, Twitter threatened legal action against Instagram parent company Meta over the new text-based app Threads, which it called a “copycat.”
Threads has drawn tens of millions of users since launching as the latest rival to Elon Musk’s social media platform.
Threads creators pushed back on the accusations, and legal experts note that much is still unknown. For now, “it’s sort of a big question mark,” Jacob Noti-Victor, an associate professor at Yeshiva University’s Cardozo Law School who specializes in intellectual property, told The Associated Press. Continue reading
UN council to hold first meeting on potential threats of artificial intelligence to global peace
Read time : 2 mins
Level : Intermediate
By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council will hold a first-ever meeting on the potential threats of artificial intelligence to international peace and security, organized by the United Kingdom which sees tremendous potential but also major risks about AI’s possible use for example in autonomous weapons or in control of nuclear weapons.
UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward on Monday announced the July 18 meeting as the centerpiece of its presidency of the council this month. It will include briefings by international AI experts and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who last month called the alarm bells over the most advanced form of AI “deafening,” and loudest from its developers.
“These scientists and experts have called on the world to act, declaring AI an existential threat to humanity on a par with the risk of nuclear war,” the U.N. chief said. Continue reading
75 years of the UK’s National Health Service
View time : 1 min 38
Level : Intermediate