Category: Articles of the week

English E-Zine

Articles of the Week 

Click on Continue Reading to open the full article.

To help you build your vocabulary just slide your cursor over the underlined word to have the French translation.

Click on Archives to open previous articles on Business, Management, Innovation & Lifestyle.

Baidu rolls out paid driverless taxi service in Beijing

natixis-ezine

Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese tech giant Baidu rolled out its paid driverless taxi service on Sunday, making it the first company to commercialize autonomous driving operations in China.

Unlike previous Baidu autonomous driving demonstrations in Beijing, this was the first time there was no safety driver sitting behind the wheel. Instead, a safety member was seated in the front passenger seat to deal with any emergencies.

Up to 10 Apollo “robotaxis” are now operating simultaneously in an area of about 3 square kilometers (1.2 square miles), picking up and dropping off passengers at eight stops in Shougang Park in western Beijing. Each ride costs 30 yuan ($4.60), and is open to passengers ages 18 to 60.
Continue reading

English soccer leads social media racism boycott

natixis-ezine

Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

By ROB HARRIS AP Global Soccer Writer

There will be no goal clips, lineup announcements, banter between clubs or even title celebrations.

Four days of silence across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by soccer leagues, clubs and players in England began on Friday in a protest against racist abuse that has been adopted more widely.

Such is the anger across the game, it means that if Manchester City clinches the Premier League on Sunday it will not celebrate the title on social media.

WHO IS BOYCOTTING?

There was initially a joint boycott announcement by the English Football Association, English Premier League, English Football League, Women’s Super League, Women’s Championship as well as player, manager and referee bodies, anti-discrimination group Kick It Out, and the Women In Football group. Ahead of the boycott which began at 1400 GMT on Friday through 2259 GMT on Monday, other English sports including cricket, rugby, tennis and horse racing said they would fall silent on social media. FIFA, UEFA and the Premier League’s British broadcasters also said they wouldn’t post online across four days.
Continue reading

Italy’s Uffizi discovers lost frescoes during COVID shutdown

natixis-ezine

Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press

MILAN (AP) — The Uffizi Gallery in Florence used the winter COVID shutdown to push ahead with renovations, discovering lost frescoes that will greet visitors when the leading repository of Italian Renaissance art reopens on May 4.

Uffizi director Eike Schmidt said the six months of closure were put to good use: renovating 14 new rooms that will open to the public next month, and discovering frescoes that would otherwise have remained hidden.

But he hopes that the most recent reopening — the third during the pandemic — will be the last.

“We very much hope that now we will be able to open stably and without further closures. We hope so for the museum, but we hope it also for the world and for human society,” Schmidt said.
Continue reading

35 years since nuclear disaster, Chernobyl warns, inspires

natixis-ezine

Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The vast and empty Chernobyl Exclusion Zone around the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident is a baleful monument to human mistakes. Yet 35 years after a power plant reactor exploded, Ukrainians also look to it for inspiration, solace and income.

Reactor No. 4 at the power plant 110 kilometers (65 miles) north of the capital Kyiv exploded and caught fire deep in the night on April 26, 1986, shattering the building and spewing radioactive material high into the sky.

Soviet authorities made the catastrophe even worse by failing to tell the public what had happened — although the nearby plant workers’ town of Pripyat was evacuated the next day, the 2 million residents of Kyiv weren’t informed despite the fallout danger. The world learned of the disaster only after heightened radiation was detected in Sweden.
Continue reading

Australia-New Zealand travel bubble opens with joy, tears

natixis-ezine

Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

By NICK PERRY Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — As the passengers walked a little dazed through the airport gates, they were embraced one after another by family members who rushed forward and dissolved into tears.

Elation and relief marked the opening of a long-anticipated travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand at the Wellington Airport on Monday. Children held balloons and banners and Indigenous Maori performers welcomed the arrivals home with songs.

The start of quarantine-free travel was a long time coming for families who have been separated by the coronavirus pandemic as well as to struggling tourist operators. It marked the first, tentative steps toward what both countries hope will become a gradual reopening to the rest of the world.
Continue reading

Era ends as Raul Castro steps down as Communist Party chief

natixis-ezine

Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ Associated Press

HAVANA (AP) — Raul Castro said he is stepping down as Cuban Communist Party leader, leaving the island without a Castro guiding affairs for the first time in more than six decades and handing control of the party to a younger generation.

The 89-year-old Castro made the announcement in a speech Friday at the opening of the eighth congress of the ruling party, the only one allowed on the island.

“I concluded my task as first secretary … with the satisfaction of having fulfilled (my duty) and confidence in the future of the fatherland,” he said in a typically terse, to-the-point finale that contrasted with the impassioned verbal pyrotechnics of his brother Fidel, who died in 2016.
Continue reading

Visitors tiptoe through the tulips in Dutch virus test

natixis-ezine

Read time : 3 mins

Level : Intermediate

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press

LISSE, Netherlands (AP) — Finally, after bleak winter months of a coronavirus lockdown, springtime shoots of hope emerged Friday as restrictions were relaxed at a Dutch flower garden and other public venues.

Under a government-approved pilot scheme, the world-famous Keukenhof garden opened its gates to let a few thousand people tiptoe through the 7 million tulips, hyacinths, daffodils and myriad other flowers meticulously hand-planted throughout its manicured lawns by a small army of gardeners.
Continue reading

IMF: Vaccine inequity threatens Mideast’s economic recovery

natixis-ezine

Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Middle East economies are recovering from the coronavirus pandemic faster than anticipated, largely due to the acceleration of mass inoculation campaigns and an increase in oil prices. But the International Monetary Fund warned Sunday that an uneven vaccine distribution would derail the region’s rebound, as the prospects of rich and poor countries diverge.
Continue reading

Musician couple host concerts to fundraise for food pantry

natixis-ezine

Read time : 3 mins

Level : Intermediate

By LUIS ANDRES HENAO and EMILY LESHNER Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — When Erin Shields belted out “Being Alive” — the showstopper from the Broadway classic “Company” — the title had extra levels of meaning.

This virtual concert, broadcast from Shields’ living room, helped fund the food pantry at Mosaic West Queens Church, which is feeding hungry residents of the Sunnyside neighborhood. It also gave Shields and her husband, David Shenton, an opportunity to resume their artistic lives.
Continue reading

Starving for more chips in a tech-hungry world

natixis-ezine

Read time : 4 mins

Level : Advanced

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE and TOM KRISHER AP Business Writers

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — As the U.S. economy rebounds from its pandemic slump, a vital cog is in short supply: the computer chips that power a wide range of products that connect, transport and entertain us in a world increasingly dependent on technology.

The shortage has already been rippling through various markets since last summer. It has made it difficult for schools to buy enough laptops for students forced to learn from home, delayed the release of popular products such as the iPhone 12 and created mad scrambles to find the latest video game consoles such as the PlayStation 5.

But things have been getting even worse in recent weeks, particularly in the auto industry, where factories are shutting down because there aren’t enough chips to finish building vehicles that are starting to look like computers on wheels. The problem was recently compounded by a grounded container ship that blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week, choking off chips headed from Asia to Europe.
Continue reading