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Articles of the Week 

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Group asks for living wages labor rights for 2026 World Cup

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

Soccer fans gather along the downtown Seattle waterfront to cheer the awarding of FIFA 2026 World Cup games to Seattle, Thursday, June 16, 2022, in Seattle. (Dean Rutz/The Seattle Times via AP)

By ANNE M. PETERSON AP Sports Writer

With this year’s World Cup in Qatar clouded by labor and human rights issues, there’s a push for the North American cities awarded games for the 2026 tournament to commit to livable wages, equitable hiring and worker protection.

The Dignity 2026 coalition has brought together groups including the AFL-CIO, Human Rights Watch and the Independent Supporters Council to work with FIFA and the individual host cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The coalition has met several times in the past few months with soccer’s international governing body to discuss its commitment to these issues. With last week’s announcement of the 16 cities that will host games, the effort has become more targeted.

They say FIFA is listening, but has not pledged to require minimum standards. Continue reading

Did corporate greed fuel inflation? It’s not biggest culprit

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Advanced

FILE – Wallace Reid purchases fuel for the vehicle he drives to make a living using ride-share apps, Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Furious about surging prices at the gasoline station and the supermarket, many consumers feel they know just where to cast blame: On greedy companies that relentlessly jack up prices and pocket the profits.

Responding to that sentiment, the Democratic-led House of Representatives last month passed on a party-line vote — most Democrats for, all Republicans against — a bill designed to crack down on alleged price gouging by energy producers.

Likewise, Britain last month announced plans to impose a temporary 25% windfall tax on oil and gas company profits and to funnel the proceeds to financially struggling households.

Yet for all the public’s resentment, most economists say corporate price gouging is, at most, one of many causes of runaway inflation — and not the primary one. Continue reading

Russian journalist sells Nobel Prize for Ukrainian children

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — What’s the price of peace?

That question could be partially answered Monday night when Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov auctions off his Nobel Peace Prize medal. The proceeds will go directly to UNICEF in its efforts to help children displaced by the war in Ukraine.

Muratov, awarded the gold medal in October 2021, helped found the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and was the publication’s editor-in-chief when it shut down in March amid the Kremlin’s clampdown on journalists and public dissent in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Continue reading

Will money-back guarantee win over wealthy donors?

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Advanced

(Hailey Tucker/One Acre Fund via AP)

By DREW LINDSAY of The Chronicle of Philanthropy Chronicle of Philanthropy

A glossy book is arriving at the homes and offices of America’s wealthiest individuals. Inside is a charity pitch that aims to raise as much as $6 billion for nonprofits fighting global poverty.

The proposition? Donate and get results — or your money back.

The advocacy group Global Citizen and the finance firm NPX are engineering this campaign. It targets Forbes 400 billionaires, Giving Pledge members, and the wealthy generally — a group increasingly criticized for what is seen as tight purse strings. The drive launched recently with dinners, meetings, and a Wall Street Journal ad that asked: “Will you donate … if we achieve results?” Continue reading

Japan eases foreign tourism ban, allows guided package tours

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japan on Friday eased its borders for foreign tourists and began accepting visa applications, but only for those on guided package tours who are willing to follow mask-wearing and other antivirus measures as the country cautiously tries to balance business and infection worries.

Friday is the first day to start procedures needed for the entry and arrivals are not expected until late June at the earliest, even though airport immigration and quarantine offices stood by for any possible arrivals.

The Japan Tourism Agency says tours are being accepted from 98 countries and regions, including the United States, Britain, China, South Korea, Thailand and Singapore, which are deemed as having low infection risks. Continue reading

Europe’s central bank to hike rates in July, 1st in 11 years

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

AMSTERDAM (AP) — The European Central Bank will raise interest rates next month for the first time in 11 years and add another hike in September, catching up with other central banks worldwide as they pivot from supporting the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic to squelching soaring inflation.

The surprise move Thursday marks a turning point after years of extremely low interest rates but faces risks from weakening prospects for economic growth. Russia’s war in Ukraine has sent shock waves through the global economy, particularly as energy prices have soared and clobbered Europe, which relies on Russian oil and natural gas.

“Russia’s unjustified aggression towards Ukraine continues to weigh on the economy in Europe and beyond,” bank President Christine Lagarde told reporters. The war is “disrupting trade, is leading to shortages of materials and is contributing to high energy and commodity prices.” Continue reading

America’s Affair With Plastic Money and How Credit Card Issuers Treat Consumers Differently

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Intermediate

By Ram Chakradhar

When it comes to credit card usage, spending habits, and saving money, men and women behave differently. The study also shows varied treatment of credit card issuers based on gender. You may be surprised to learn that men were more likely to have their credit card limit reduced than women during the pandemic.

Key Findings

Men were 1.5 times more likely to have their limits reduced than women. 82% of the men are less careful about their credit card dues than 71% of women. Men also carry over balance every month than women. When applying for a new credit card, men’s primary reason is a balance transfer, while women do it for spending rewards. Both agree that high-interest rates and annual fees are the biggest annoyance.Forbes Advisor, a financial comparison site, studied 2,005 American adults’ credit card usage, spending habits, frustration, and Covid-19 pandemic impact. The survey shows that 53% of the men saw their credit card limit reduced in the past two years compared to 37% of women. Continue reading

Red-hot summer job market awaits US teens as employers sweat

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

By PAUL WISEMAN and MAE ANDERSON AP Business Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mary Jane Riva, CEO of the Pizza Factory, has a cautionary message for her customers this summer: Prepare to wait longer for your Hawaiian pie or calzone.

The Pizza Factory’s 100 West Coast locations are desperately short of workers. With about 12 employees per store, they’re barely half-staffed — just when many more Americans are venturing out to restaurant chains like hers.

“The days of 15-minute orders,” Riva said, “may not be happening anymore.”

Talk to other employers in America’s vast hospitality sector — hotels, restaurants, public pools, ice cream parlors, pick-your-own strawberry farms — and you’ll hear a similar lament. They can’t fill many of their summer jobs because the number of open positions far exceeds the number of people willing and able to fill them — even at increased wages.

Some help may be coming: School’s out for summer, cutting loose millions of high school and college students for the next three months. Riva, for one, is hoping to field more job applications from students seeking summertime spending money. Continue reading

BTS visits White House to discuss combating hate crime surge

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Intermediate

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — K-Pop sensation BTS visited the White House on Tuesday to talk with President Joe Biden about combating the rise in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans — bringing superstar sizzle to an otherwise sad and scary topic.

Band members J-Hope, RM, Suga, Jungkook, V, Jin and Jimin joined White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at her briefing with reporters on the final day of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Jimin said the band had been “devastated by the recent surge” of crime and intolerance against Asian Americans that has persisted since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s not wrong to be different,” Suga said through an interpreter. “Equality begins when we open up and embrace all of our differences.” V said that “everyone has their own history.” Continue reading

Portable Device Creates Drinkable Ocean Water in Minutes

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

By Dane Dickerson

A crack team of research engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) develops a user-friendly and portable unit that removes salt and other particles from ocean water in a flash. It is roughly the size of a suitcase and incredibly easy to use.

The portable desalinization unit was born in MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE), the birthplace of Ion Concentration Polarization (ICP) which is the filtration process behind its compact design.

For over a decade, a team of five, including senior author Jongyoon Han, sculpted a revolutionary desalination device into existence. It is primarily envisioned to help communities without clean drinking water create their own, among other applications. Continue reading