Category: Articles of the week

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Articles of the Week 

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G7 countries to provide $19.8 billion in aid to Ukraine

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Intermediate

(Federico Gambarini/dpa via AP)

By FATIMA HUSSEIN and GEIR MOULSON Associated Press

KOENIGSWINTER, Germany (AP) — The Group of Seven leading economies agreed Friday to provide $19.8 billion in economic aid to Ukraine to help keep tight finances from hindering its ability to defend itself from Russia’s invasion.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner told reporters that $9.5 billion of the total amount was mobilized at meetings of the G-7 finance ministers in Koenigswinter, Germany, this week.

“We agreed that Ukraine’s financial situation must have no influence on Ukraine’s ability to defend itself successfully,” he said. “We need to do our utmost to end this war.”

The money is intended to help the Ukrainian government keep basic services for its people functioning, and is separate from efforts to provide the country with weapons and humanitarian aid.

The needs are vast. Continue reading

DAVOS DIARY: Train, not plane means scenery & carbon cutting

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

(AP Photo/Kelvin Chan)

By KELVIN CHAN Associated Press

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — If you’re coming to Davos this year, try to take the train instead of flying, organizers of the World Economic Forum said.

So I did.

That meant a 12-hour journey from London to the exclusive gathering in the Swiss Alps, which I’m helping cover for The Associated Press.

Taking a train is much less convenient than a plane, but the scenery made up for it — the rolling farm fields of England and France gave way to Switzerland’s towering mountains and idyllic valleys dotted with chalets. And my carbon footprint will be a lot lower than a flight.

To many, Davos conjures up images of government leaders, billionaire elites and corporate titans jetting in on carbon-spewing private planes even as the meeting increasingly focuses on climate change. Continue reading

Saudi oil giant Aramco’s first-quarter profits surge 80%

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Intermediate

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Oil giant Saudi Aramco said Sunday its profits soared more than 80% in the first three months of the year, as the state-backed company cashes in on the volatility in global energy markets and surging oil prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The bumper first-quarter earnings by the firm formally known as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., which overtook Apple as the world’s most valuable company last week, show a record net income of $39.5 billion, up from $21.7 billion during the same period last year. Continue reading

Workers grapple with new stresses as they return to office

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

(Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition via AP)

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Last summer, Julio Carmona started the process of weaning himself off a fully remote work schedule by showing up to the office once a week.

The new hybrid schedule at his job at a state agency in Stratford, Connecticut, still enabled him to spend time cooking dinner for his family and taking his teenage daughter to basketball.

But in the next few months, he’s facing the likelihood of more mandatory days in the office. And that’s creating stress for the father of three.

Carmona, 37, whose father died from COVD-19 last year, worries about contracting the virus but he also ticks off a list of other anxieties: increased costs for lunch and gas, day care costs for his newborn baby, and his struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Continue reading

Ginsburg’s tea set, coat, other items raise $800K for opera

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

(AP Photo/Nathan Ellgren, File)

By JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s silver tea set is going to a family with a 5-year-old daughter who once was Ginsburg for Halloween. A medal Ginsburg was awarded when inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame is going to a family that demonstrated recently for reproductive rights. And a drawing of her that hung in her office was a Utah-based scientist’s Mother’s Day gift to his wife.

All told, an online auction of 150 of items owned by the late justice raised $803,650 for Washington National Opera, one of the late justice’s passions. The auction ended in late April, and buyers are now picking up items or arranging to have them shipped to their homes in 38 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and Germany. Winning bids ranged from $850 to $55,000. Continue reading

Europe’s farmers stir up biogas to offset Russian energy

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

(AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

By JOHN LEICESTER and FRANK JORDANS Associated Press

SONCHAMP, France (AP) — In lush fields southwest of Paris, farmers are joining Europe’s fight to free itself from Russian gas.

They’ll soon turn on the tap of a new facility where crops and agricultural waste are mashed up and fermented to produce “biogas.” It’s among energy solutions being promoted on the continent that wants to choke off funding for Russia’s war in Ukraine by no longer paying billions for Russian fossil fuels.

Small rural gas plants that provide energy for hundreds or thousands of nearby homes aren’t — at least anytime soon — going to supplant the huge flows to Europe of Russian gas that powers economies, factories, business and homes. And critics of using crops to make gas argue that farmers should be concentrating on growing food — especially when prices are soaring amid the fallout of the war in Ukraine, one of the world’s breadbaskets.

Still, biogas is part of the puzzle of how to reduce Europe’s energy dependence. Continue reading

50 years on, Apollo 16 moonwalker still ‘excited’ by space

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

(AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Fifty years after his Apollo 16 mission to the moon, retired NASA astronaut Charlie Duke says he’s ready for the U.S. to get back to lunar exploration.

Part of that effort, Duke said Friday, will come in the form of the Artemis program, which includes NASA’s upcoming flight to the moon using its new Space Launch System rocket. The first of the huge rockets is supposed to blast off without crew later this year, with crewed flights planned subsequently.

“With Artemis, NASA is going to be focused on deep space, to the moon and beyond, and I’m excited about that,” Duke told The Associated Press in an interview in Columbia. Continue reading

En plein air: NYC aims to keep outdoor lifestyle post-virus

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

(AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — As COVID-19 ravaged New York City, virus-wary denizens locked out of indoor public places poured into the streets, sidewalks and parks. They dined with friends in outdoor sheds hastily erected by restaurants, and went to health classes, concerts and even therapy sessions on streets closed to traffic.

Now as the city continues on its path of recovery, the pandemic could be leaving a lasting imprint on how the city uses its roadways: More space for people and less room for cars. Continue reading

US airlines say they’ve reached a turning point in recovery

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

(AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer

DALLAS (AP) — U.S. airlines say they have hit a turning point: After a lousy first quarter, they expect to be profitable as Americans return to travel in the biggest numbers since the start of the pandemic.

American Airlines is the latest carrier to give a rosy outlook for the rest of 2022. American said Thursday that although it lost $1.64 billion in the first quarter, sales hit a record in March, and the company expects to earn a profit in the second quarter.

“Demand is as strong as we have ever seen it,” American CEO Robert Isom told analysts. Continue reading

In election misinformation fight, ‘2020 changed everything’

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Advanced

(AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

By AMANDA SEITZ Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Beth Bowers grew up in the 1960s and 1970s with parents who marched in protests, wrote letters to members of Congress and voted in elections big and small.

Her father, a World War II veteran, and her mother, an educational counselor, did not use social media sites in their lifetimes. But Bowers is sure they would be disheartened to see how easily falsehoods about the U.S. elections are disseminated online to millions and millions of people.

That’s why the Evanston, Illinois, mom spends a few hours each week scouring Facebook groups for conspiracy theories or lies as part of a nationwide volunteer effort to debunk misinformation about voting.

“The good thing about this work is, it’d be so easy to become incredibly cynical and hopeless, but I think we feel like this is something we can do and make a difference,” Bowers, 59, said in a phone interview. Continue reading