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Articles of the Week 

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Back in Paris pact, US faces tougher climate steps ahead

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Intermediate

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and SETH BORENSTEIN Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — World leaders welcomed the United States’ official return to the Paris climate accord Friday, but politically trickier steps lie just ahead for President Joe Biden, including setting a tough national target in coming months for cutting damaging fossil fuel emissions.

And even as Biden noted the country’s first day back in the climate pact, the globe’s dangerous warming was just one of a long list of urgent problems he raised in a video speech to European leaders on Friday, a month into his administration. Before bringing up climate issues, he touched on the global pandemic, sputtering national economies and tense relations with China, among other matters that threaten to impede and delay tackling the nation’s status as the world’s top carbon polluter after China.

Despite all the other challenges, Biden said, speaking to the Munich security conference, “we can no longer delay or do the bare minimum to address climate change. This is a global existential crisis, and all of us will suffer if we fail.”
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Power failure: How a winter storm pushed Texas into crisis

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Read time : 7 mins

Level : Advanced

By NOMAAN MERCHANT Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) — Two days before the storm began, Houston’s chief elected official warned her constituents to prepare as they would for a major hurricane. Many took heed: Texans who could stocked up on food and water, while nonprofits and government agencies set out to help those who couldn’t.

But few foresaw the fiasco that was to come.

As temperatures plunged and snow and ice whipped the state, much of Texas’ power grid collapsed, followed by its water systems. Tens of millions huddled in frigid homes that slowly grew colder or fled for safety. And a prideful state, long suspicious of regulation and outside help, was left to seek aid from other states and humanitarian groups as many of its 29 million people grasped for survival.
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Brazil Carnival goes online with street parties banned

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Intermediate

By MARCELO SILVA DE SOUSA and DIARLEI RODRIGUES Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Supergirl came out of the dressing room ready for action as usual.

She took her place alongside Freddy Krueger, Poison Ivy and Captain America and they kicked off, into song.

That idiosyncratic lineup is a typical sort of lineup for the Carnival street band Desliga da Justica, but this year they were facing cameras in a studio and the fans were scattered across the internet instead of dancing in the streets during one of the world’s most iconic celebrations.

“Everybody at home, move the furniture out of the way to dance and drink cold beer,” called out the woman dressed as Poison Ivy, who began the show with a traditional Carnival song.
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Amazon faces biggest union push in its history

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Read time : 5 mins

Level : Advanced

By JOSEPH PISANI AP Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The second Jennifer Bates walks away from her post at the Amazon warehouse where she works, the clock starts ticking.

She has precisely 30 minutes to get to the cafeteria and back for her lunch break. That means traversing a warehouse the size of 14 football fields, which eats up precious time. She avoids bringing food from home because warming it up in the microwave would cost her even more minutes. Instead she opts for $4 cold sandwiches from the vending machine and hurries back to her post.

If she makes it, she’s lucky. If she doesn’t, Amazon could cut her pay, or worse, fire her.
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India restores 4G mobile internet in Kashmir after 550 days

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Intermediate

By AIJAZ HUSSAIN Associated Press

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — India ended an 18-month-long ban on high speed internet services on mobile devices in disputed Kashmir, where opposition to New Delhi has deepened after it revoked the region’s semi-autonomy.

The order late Friday lifted the ban on 4G mobile data services However, the order issued by the region’s home secretary, Shaleen Kabra, asked police officials to “closely monitor the impact of lifting of restrictions.
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Around the globe, virus cancels spring travel for millions

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Read time :4 mins

Level : Advanced

By DAVID McHUGH, CASEY SMITH and JOE McDONALD AP Business Writers

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — They are the annual journeys of late winter and early spring: Factory workers in China heading home for the Lunar New Year; American college students going on road trips and hitting the beach over spring break; Germans and Britons fleeing drab skies for some Mediterranean sun over Easter.

All of it canceled, in doubt or under pressure because of the coronavirus.

Amid fears of new variants of the virus, new restrictions on movement have hit just as people start to look ahead to what is usually a busy time of year for travel.
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Pope sets date to honor ‘forgotten’ grandparents and elders

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Read time : 1 min

Level : Intermediate

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has established an annual date to honor grandparents and other elders, lamenting that they are often forgotten despite the wisdom they have to offer society.

Francis on Sunday announced that every year, on the fourth Sunday of July, the Roman Catholic Church will pay tribute to older adults who have “thoughts and words of wisdom” to offer.

This year, Francis will celebrate a special Mass in honor of them on the evening of July 25, pandemic restrictions permitting, the Vatican said.
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Fighting climate change in America means changes to America

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Read time : 5 mins

Level : Advanced

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer

Climate isn’t the only thing changing.

What comes next in the nation’s struggle to combat global warming will probably transform how Americans drive, where they get their power and other bits of day-to-day life, both quietly and obviously, experts say. So far the greening of America has been subtle, driven by market forces, technology and voluntary actions.

The Biden administration is about to change that.
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Nissan commits to UK car plant after post-Brexit trade deal

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Japanese carmaker Nissan confirmed Friday that it will maintain its operations in Britain in the wake of the post-Brexit trade deal between the country and the European Union.

The news was greeted by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as a “great vote of confidence.”

The future of Nissan’s car plant in the northeast England city of Sunderland was thrown into doubt in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave the EU in June 2016, a decision that could have led to tariffs and quotas on trade between the two sides.

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European Central Bank keeps stimulus programs on track

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Advanced

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — With more than a trillion euros in stimulus still in the pipeline to the economy, the European Central Bank left its key bond-purchase program unchanged Thursday as the 19-country eurozone endures a winter economic slowdown due to the pandemic.

Attention will focus on post-decision remarks by bank President Christine Lagarde about the outlook for the recovery in the 19 countries that use the euro currency. The ECB faces potential concerns over political turbulence in heavily indebted Italy, where the government survived a confidence vote this week, and over the stronger euro, which can weigh on exports and growth.

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