Category: Articles of the week

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Articles of the Week 

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The winter solstice is almost here, the Northern Hemisphere’s darkest day

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

By The Associated Press undefined

The winter solstice is Saturday, bringing the shortest day and longest night of the year to the Northern Hemisphere — ideal conditions for holiday lights and warm blankets.

For those who would rather have more sunlight, you can try to make your way to the Southern Hemisphere, where it is summer. Or be patient: Starting Sunday, days will get a little bit longer in the Northern Hemisphere every single day until late June.

These annual changes in sunlight as the Earth revolves around the sun have been well known to humans for centuries. Monuments such as Stonehenge in England and the Torreon at Peru’s Machu Picchu were designed in part to align with solstices.

Here’s what to know about how the Earth’s march around the sun splits up the year. Continue reading

FIFA confirms Saudi Arabia as 2034 World Cup host despite human rights concerns

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

FILE – Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, left, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino, stand for the anthem prior to opening soccer match of the 2018 World Cup between Russia and Saudi Arabia at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, Russia, on June 14, 2018. (Alexei Nikolsky/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer

ZURICH (AP) — Saudi Arabia was officially confirmed Wednesday by FIFA as host of the 2034 World Cup in men’s soccer, giving the oil-rich kingdom its biggest prize yet for massive spending on global sports driven by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The Saudi bid was the only candidate and was acclaimed by the applause of more than 200 FIFA member federations. They took part remotely in an online meeting hosted in Zurich by the soccer body’s president Gianni Infantino.

“The vote of the congress is loud and clear,” said Infantino, who had asked officials on a bank of screens to clap their hands at head level to show their support.

The decision was combined with approving the only candidate to host the 2030 World Cup. Spain, Portugal and Morocco will co-host in a six-nation project, with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay each getting one of the 104 games.

The South American connection will mark the centenary of Uruguay hosting the first World Cup in 1930. Continue reading

GivingTuesday estimates $3.6B was donated this year, an increase from 2023

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

Volunteer Victoria Vasquez, 70, of Providence, R.I., center, supervises one-and-a-half year olds Scarlett Thomas, left, and Liam Echevarria Gaytan, right, in an early childcare program at Federal Hill House, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

By THALIA BEATY Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. donors gave $3.6 billion on Tuesday, an increase from the past two years, according to estimates from the nonprofit GivingTuesday.

The Tuesday after Thanksgiving, now known as GivingTuesday, has become a major day for nonprofits to fundraise and otherwise engage their supporters each year, since the 92nd St Y in New York started it as a hashtag in 2012. GivingTuesday has since become an independent nonprofit that connects a worldwide network of leaders and organizations who promote giving in their communities.

“This just really shows the generosity, the willingness of American citizens to show up, particularly collectively,” said Asha Curran, CEO of the nonprofit GivingTuesday. “We are just seeing the power of collective action and particularly collective giving over and over and over again.” Continue reading

Europe’s economy needs help. Political chaos in France and Germany means it may be slower in coming

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

FILE – A light installation is projected onto the building of the European Central Bank during a rehearsal in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021. (Photo/Michael Probst, File)

By DAVID McHUGH and LORNE COOK Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — Even before the French and German governments collapsed, Europe’s economy had enough difficulties. Tepid growth and lagging competitiveness versus the U.S. and China. An auto industry that’s struggling. Where to find billions for defense against Russia? And now Donald Trump threatening tariffs.

Solutions will be harder to find while the two countries that make up almost half of the eurozone economy remain stuck in political paralysis well into 2025.

Where once there was the so-called French-German axis to push Europe ahead, now there’s a vacuum. French Prime Minister Michel Barnier resigned Thursday after losing a vote of confidence, and while President Emmanuel Macron will appoint a successor, the new head of government will lack a majority. Elections are not constitutionally permitted until at least June. Continue reading

Libraries are offering free health and wellness classes across the US

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

Chef Sharrie Agee helps Yareni Orduna-Herrera slice tomatoes for a margherita pizza as part of the Milwaukee Public Library Snack Hack, an after school nutrition program that teaches kids how to make healthy meals at home, Nov. 19, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Devi Shastri)

By DEVI SHASTRI AP Health Writer

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Aurora Health Care Mobile Medical Clinic team waited patiently at a table in the main hallway of the Milwaukee Public Library’s sprawling downtown branch, a blood pressure cuff and mental health questionnaire at the ready as they called out to patrons who paused: “Do you have any questions about your health?”

On this Tuesday afternoon, one man did. His joints were bothering him, he told Carolyn McCarthy, the team’s nurse practitioner. And he knew his bones need calcium to stay strong, so he stopped taking his blood pressure medication, a calcium channel blocker.

McCarthy talked with him at length in simple and specific terms about how the medication worked on his cells, why it was important to take and how it doesn’t affect calcium storage in his bones.

“Hopefully, he walked away a little bit more informed,” McCarthy said. Continue reading

Donald Trump’s call for ‘energy dominance’ is likely to run into real-world limits

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

FILE – Pumpjacks draw out oil and gas from well heads as wildfire smoke hangs in the air near Calgary, Alberta, Sunday, May 12, 2024. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is set to create a National Energy Council that he says will establish American “energy dominance” around the world as he seeks to boost U.S. oil and gas drilling and move away from President Joe Biden’s focus on climate change.

The energy council — to be led by North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s choice to head the Interior Department — will be key in Trump’s pledge to “drill, drill, drill” and sell more oil and other energy sources to allies in Europe and around the globe.

The new council will be granted sweeping authority over federal agencies involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation, with a mandate to cut bureaucratic red tape, enhance private sector investments and focus on innovation instead of “totally unnecessary regulation,” Trump said. Continue reading

Over Half of White Collar Workers Prefer Working From Home, Even With One-Third Experiencing Isolation

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

BY Jon Dulin | Wealth of Geeks undefined

Remote work has gone from a necessity to a must-have for many workers. A recent USA Today study shows most workers prefer to work from home, ideally at least three days a week.

While workers cite benefits, including increased productivity, this “new normal” also brings challenges like managing work-life balance and feeling isolated from colleagues. Even with some companies pushing back with return-to-office requests, experts project the number of remote workers to increase in the coming years. As businesses and employees adapt, the conversation around remote work evolves, revealing opportunities and hurdles for the future workforce. Continue reading

US regulators seek to break up Google, forcing Chrome sale as part of monopoly punishment

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

FILE – The Google building is seen in New York, Feb. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer

U.S. regulators want a federal judge to break up Google to prevent the company from continuing to squash competition through its dominant search engine after a court found it had maintained an abusive monopoly over the past decade.

The proposed breakup floated in a 23-page document filed late Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice calls for sweeping punishments that would include a sale of Google’s industry-leading Chrome web browser and impose restrictions to prevent Android from favoring its own search engine.

A sale of Chrome “will permanently stop Google’s control of this critical search access point and allow rival search engines the ability to access the browser that for many users is a gateway to the internet,” Justice Department lawyers argued in their filing. Continue reading

What is Bluesky, the fast-growing social platform welcoming fleeing X users

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

FILE – The app for Bluesky is shown on a mobile phone, left, and on a laptop screen on June 2, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Disgruntled X users are again flocking to Bluesky, a newer social media platform that grew out of the former Twitter before billionaire Elon Musk took it over in 2022. While it remains small compared to established online spaces such as X, it has emerged as an alternative for those looking for a different mood, lighter and friendlier and less influenced by Musk. Continue reading

As China cracks down on bookstores at home, Chinese-language booksellers are flourishing overseas

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

Yu Miao, right, owner of JF Books, looks at his phone as customers browse the books in his bookstore in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

By FU TING Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Yu Miao smiles as he stands among the 10,000 books crowded on rows of bamboo shelves in his newly reopened bookstore. It’s in Washington’s vibrant Dupont Circle neighborhood, far from its last location in Shanghai, where the Chinese government forced him out of business six years ago.

“There is no pressure from the authorities here,” said Yu, the owner of JF Books, Washington’s only Chinese bookseller. “I want to live without fear.”

Independent bookstores have become a new battleground in China, swept up in the ruling Communist Party’s crackdown on dissent and free expression. The Associated Press found that at least a dozen bookstores in the world’s second-largest economy have been shuttered or targeted for closure in the last few months alone, squeezing the already tight space for press freedom. One bookstore owner was arrested over four months ago. Continue reading