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Articles of the Week 

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Iconic tapestry of Picasso’s `Guernica’ is back at the UN

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The iconic tapestry of Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica,” which is considered by numerous art critics as perhaps the most powerful anti-war painting in history, returned to its place of honor at the United Nations on Saturday after a year-long absence that angered and dismayed many U.N. diplomats and staff.

The tapestry of the painting, woven by Atelier J. de la Baume-Durrbach, was re-hung Saturday outside the Security Council, the U.N.’s most powerful body charged with ensuring international peace and security. Since February 2021, the yellow wall where it had hung had been empty.

The tapestry was commissioned in 1955 by former U.S. vice president and New York governor Nelson Rockefeller and offered to the U.N. on loan in 1984.
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Spotify CEO to employees: canceling Rogan not ‘the answer’

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

By TOM KRISHER and LINDSEY BAHR Associated Press

Joe Rogan’s mouth has put Spotify in a tough spot, but the streaming giant is apparently not ready to part ways with the popular podcast host despite intense criticism over his anti-coronavirus vaccine comments and racial slurs.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said in a message to employees released Sunday that the company would not part ways with Rogan.

“While I strongly condemn what Joe has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realize some will want more,” Ek said in the note. “And I want to make one point very clear – I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer.”

The letter is the clearest indication yet of where Spotify stands on Rogan’s fate with the company. It reportedly paid $100 million to exclusively host the podcast, so dropping Rogan threatens the bottom line but is also a key part of the company’s strategy to be a one-stop shop for audio.
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Housework or sleep? Study says it depends when you were born

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Intermediate

(AP Photo/Scott Bauer).

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press

When Gen Xer Amy Rottier went shopping for her young children two decades ago, she drove to a mall and browsed for what she needed. Her millennial daughter, Helen, who is studying for a doctorate and doesn’t have children, buys anything she needs with a click on her iPad.

The women, ages 50 and 25, respectively, illustrate the pace of change from one generation to the next in what people do in an average day. The changes were revealed in a study released last week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Generation X women were more likely to do housework, care for children, read for pleasure and do lawn work, the study found. Millennial women were more inclined to exercise, spend leisure time on computers, take care of their pets and sleep.
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Ski resorts aim for more efficient snowmaking amid drought

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

(AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)

By THOMAS PEIPERT Associated Press

DENVER (AP) — The sight can be jarring during extreme drought: snowmaking guns lined up on a mountainside, blasting precious crystal flakes on a ski run while the rest of the land goes thirsty.

Snowpack in the U.S. West has decreased by about 20% in the last century, making man-made snow more vital each year to opening ski resorts and fueling ski town economies as they head into an uncertain future.

As the effects of drought and climate change increasingly hit home, the ski industry has invested millions of dollars in more efficient snowmaking systems amid questions about whether the practice is a wise use of energy and water.

“There are impacts. They’re regrettable. We’d rather not have to make snow,” said Auden Schendler, senior vice president of sustainability at Aspen Skiing Company in Colorado. “But our regional economy and the economies of all ski towns depend on your ski resort operating. And so this is a necessary evil.”
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In kids’ book, Sotomayor asks: Whom have you helped today?

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Intermediate

By JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — “Whom have I helped today?” That’s the question Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor tells kids she asks herself every night before she goes to sleep.

Her new children’s book, “Just Help! How to Build a Better World,” challenges kids to ask how they will help, too. The book comes out Tuesday and is Sotomayor’s third book for young readers.

In the book, children help in a variety of ways: sending care packages to American soldiers overseas, recycling plastic bags, cleaning up a park, donating toys to a children’s hospital and encouraging others to vote.
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Bitcoin pyramid schemes wreak havoc on Brazil’s ‘New Egypt’

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Read time : 5 mins

Level : Advanced

By DIANE JEANTET Associated Press

CABO FRIO, Brazil (AP) — In April, Brazil’s federal police stormed the helipad of a boutique seaside hotel in Rio de Janeiro state, where they busted two men and a woman loading a chopper with 7 million reais ($1.3 million) in neatly packed bills.

The detainees told police they worked for G.A.S. Consulting & Technology, a cryptocurrency investment firm founded by a former waiter-turned-multimillionaire who is the central figure in what is alleged to be one of Brazil’s biggest-ever pyramid schemes.

Police say the company owned by 38-year-old Glaidson Acácio dos Santos had total transactions worth at least $7 billion ($38 billion reais) from 2015 through mid-2021 as part of a Bitcoin-based Ponzi scheme that promised investors 10% monthly returns.

In hundreds of pages of documents obtained by The Associated Press, federal and state police and prosecutors accuse dos Santos and his associates of running a sophisticated racket defrauding thousands of small-scale investors who believed they were getting rich off Bitcoin’s steep appreciation. He is now in a Rio jail awaiting trial on charges including racketeering, financial crimes and ordering the murder and attempted murder of two business competitors. He remains under investigation in the attempted murder of a third competitor.
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Volcanic ash delays aid to Tonga as scale of damage emerges

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Intermediate

By NICK PERRY Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Thick ash on an airport runway was delaying aid deliveries to the Pacific island nation of Tonga, where significant damage was being reported days after a huge undersea volcanic eruption and tsunami.

New Zealand’s military is sending much-needed drinking water and other supplies, but said the ash on the runway will delay the flight at least a day. A towering ash cloud since Saturday’s eruption had prevented earlier flights. New Zealand also sent a navy ship to Tonga Tuesday with another planned to leave later in the day and pledged an initial 1 million New Zealand dollars ($680,000) toward recovery efforts.

Australia sent a navy ship from Sydney to Brisbane to prepare for a support mission if needed.
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Tennis star’s deportation exposes Australian border debate

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Weary after two years of some of the harshest COVID-19 border restrictions in the world, many Australians wanted tennis star Novak Djokovic kicked out of their country for traveling to a tennis tournament without being vaccinated.

But the backdrop to the government’s tough line on the defending Australian Open champion — and Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s description of the expulsion as a “decision to keep our borders strong” — dates to nearly a decade ago. It also shines a light on Australia’s complicated, and strongly criticized, immigration and border policies.
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EXPLAINER: What does record inflation mean for the eurozone?

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Intermediate

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer

LONDON (AP) — Inflation in the 19 countries that use the euro currency hit its highest level on record, led by surging food and energy costs, figures released Friday show.

Here’s a closer look at the data:

WHAT DO THE NUMBERS SAY?

Consumer prices in the eurozone, made up of European Union economies like France and Germany, rose 5% in December compared with the previous year, according to Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office.

Energy prices led the increase, jumping 26% over the past year, slightly lower than the previous month. The boost in food prices picked up steam to 3.2%, from November’s 2.2% rate, and the price of goods rose at a faster pace of 2.9%.
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Terror, shattered glass and thanks: Lawmakers recall Jan. 6

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Advanced

By ALAN FRAM and KEVIN FREKING Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — One year later, their voices still quavered and they gratefully credited the U.S. Capitol Police with saving their lives. And, perhaps, preserving American democracy as well.

On the anniversary of last year’s Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, dozens of lawmakers gathered Thursday to share their stories of that day’s terror and resilience.

It was an insurrection aimed at stopping lawmakers from officially affirming Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory over Trump. Some people died, scores were injured, the Capitol was damaged and the House and Senate counting of ballots was delayed for hours but not deterred.
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