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자기 번호 밑에 쓸 것

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(기록내용: 레벨, 제목, 링크)
Lv. 5
EU warns X over Israel-Hamas disinformation   (16th October 2023)

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Social media is awash with information and graphics about the ongoing events in Israel and Gaza. There are concerns about how much of the content posted online is fake. The European Union has just opened an investigation into the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter. The EU says there is an alarming volume of posts containing false information on X. EU officials have expressed concern that X was, "being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation". X has until the end of next week to answer a series of EU questions about this content. Failure to satisfactorily address these issues could lead the EU to impose a fine on X of up to five per cent of the company's daily global turnover.

The EU probe into X comes under the bloc's Digital Services Act. This was established to monitor how large tech companies deal with the hate speech posted on their platforms, and how they police the Internet. An EU spokesperson advised X to introduce, "proportionate and effective mitigation measures" to identify and delete disinformation. He added: "We have, from qualified sources, reports about potentially illegal content circulating on X, despite flags from relevant authorities." Hundreds of bogus accounts have been flooding the Internet with harmful and inflammatory content. The CEO of X said the site had removed hundreds of these accounts. A social media expert lamented this was, "a drop in the ocean".

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

Online Disinformation - Level 4 or Online Disinformation - Level 5

Sources

https://www.ft.com/content/a4ab23c7-977a-46b1-8d00-33923ceaee89

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/musks-hundreds-hamas-linked-accounts-ceo-103916288

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/telegram-fueling-israel-hamas-war-misinformation-1234854300/

Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

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EU warns X over Israel-Hamas disinformation

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English News Lessons: Free 27-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini-lesson - Online Disinformation - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events.

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(기사제목, 링크)
EU asks Musk's X for information on hate speech and 'illegal content' related to Israel-Hamas war

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LONDON -- The European Commission on Thursday made a formal, legally binding request for information from Elon Musk's social media platform X over its handling of hate speech, misinformation and violent terrorist content related to the Israel-Hamas war.

It is the first step in what could become the EU's inaugural investigation under the Digital Services Act, in this case to determine if the site formerly known as Twitter is in compliance with the tough new rules meant to keep users safe online and stop the spread of harmful content.

San Francisco-based X has until Wednesday to respond to questions related to how its crisis response protocol is functioning. Responses to other questions must be received by Oct. 31. The commission said its next steps, which could include the opening of formal proceedings and penalties, would be determined by X's replies.

Representatives for X did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. The company's CEO, Linda Yaccarino, said earlier that the site has removed hundreds of Hamas-linked accounts and taken down or labeled tens of thousands of pieces of content since the militant group's attack on Israel. One social media expert called the actions "a drop in the bucket."

Yaccarino on Thursday outlined steps taken by X to combat illegal content flourishing on the platform. She was responding to an earlier letter from a top European Union official for information on how X is complying with the EU's new digital rules during the Israel-Hamas war. That letter, which essentially served as a warning, was not legally binding - the latest one, however, is.

"X is proportionately and effectively assessing and addressing identified fake and manipulated content during this constantly evolving and shifting crisis," Yaccarino said in a letter to European Commissioner Thierry Breton, the 27-nation bloc's digital enforcer.

But some say the efforts are not nearly enough to tackle the problem.

"While these actions are better than nothing, it is not enough to curtail the misinformation problem on X," said Kolina Koltai, a researcher at the investigative collective Bellingcat who previously worked at Twitter on Community Notes.

"There is an overwhelming amount of misinformation on the platform," Koltai said. "From what we have seen, the moderation efforts from X are only addressing a drop in the bucket."

Since the war erupted, photos and videos have flooded social media of the carnage, including haunting footage of Hamas fighters taking terrified Israelis hostage, alongside posts from users pushing false claims and misrepresenting videos from other events.

The conflict is one of the first major tests for the EU's groundbreaking digital rules, which took effect in August. Breton fired off a similar letter Thursday to TikTok, telling CEO Shou Zi Chew that he has a "particular obligation" to protect child and teen users from "violent content depicting hostage taking and other graphic videos" reportedly making the rounds on the video sharing app.

For X, changes that Musk has made to the platform since he bought it last year mean accounts that subscribe to X's blue-check service can get paid if their posts go viral, creating a financial incentive to post whatever gets the most reaction. Plus, X's workforce - including its content moderation team - has been gutted.

Those changes are running up against the EU's Digital Services Act, which forces social media companies to step up policing of their platforms for illegal content, such as terrorist material or illegal hate speech, under threat of hefty fines.

"There is no place on X for terrorist organizations or violent extremist groups and we continue to remove such accounts in real time, including proactive efforts," Yaccarino wrote in the letter posted to X.

X has taken action to "remove or label tens of thousands of pieces of content," Yaccarino said, pointing out that there are 700 unique Community Notes - a feature that allows users to add their own fact-checks to posts - "related to the attacks and unfolding events."

The platform has been "responding promptly" and in a "diligent and objective manner" to takedown requests from law enforcement agencies from around the world, including more than 80 from EU member states, Yaccarino said.

Koltai, the researcher and former Twitter employee, said Community Notes are not an "end-all solution to curtailing misinfo" and that there are gaps that the feature just can't fill yet.

"There are still many videos and photos on X that don't have notes that are unmoderated, and continue to spread misleading claims," she said.

Since Musk acquired Twitter and renamed it, social-media watchers say the platform has become not just unreliable but actively promotes falsehoods, while a study commissioned by the EU found that it's the worst-performing platform for online disinformation.

Rivals such as TikTok, YouTube and Facebook also are coping with a flood of unsubstantiated rumors and falsehoods about the Middle Eastern conflict, playing the typical whack-a-mole that erupts each time a news event captures world attention.

Breton, the EU official, urged TikTok's leader to step up its efforts at tackling disinformation and illegal content and respond within 24 hours. The company did not reply immediately to an email seeking comment.

Breton's warning letters have also gone to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook and Instagram parent Meta.

-

AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay in Oakland, California, contributed to this report.

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EU asks Musk's X for information on hate speech and 'illegal content' related to Israel-Hamas war

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The European Commission has made a formal, legally binding request for information from Elon Musk's social media platform X over its handling of hate speech, misinformation and violent terrorist content related to the Israel-Hamas war

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We all know carrots are good for our eyesight. A new study says grapes are also good for our eyes. The National University of Singapore found that eating just a few grapes a day can help our vision. This is good for older people. The lead researcher said: "Our study...shows that grape consumption beneficially impacts eye health in humans, which is very exciting, especially with a growing, ageing population." She added that we can easily buy grapes, and they have a "beneficial impact" on our eyesight. This is good news for people who dislike carrots.

Thirty-four adults took part in experiments over 16 weeks. Half of them ate one-and-a-half cups of grapes every day; the other half ate a placebo snack. The participants and the researchers did not know if the tests were on the grapes or the snack. This gave better test results. Researchers found that people who ate the grapes had better muscle strength around the retina. The retina passes information about light to the brain. It protects the eyes from damaging blue light. A lot of blue light comes from computer screens and LED lights.

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English News Lessons: Free 27-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini-lesson - Grapes and Eyesight - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events.

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Lv. 3
‘Bed poverty’ on the rise in the UK

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English News Lessons: Free 27-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini-lesson - Bed Poverty - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events.

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shrinkflation
Level 5

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The phenomenon of "shrinkflation" is spreading worldwide. Companies are reducing the size of their products or range of services while maintaining prices. The prices of raw materials are rising. Another example is to place smaller numbers of items in larger boxes, so shoppers think they are getting more for their money. Shrinking the size of products is a cost-cutting strategy. Manufacturers know that consumers are more sensitive to price than quantity or quality. Most people will make a regular purchase, even if it has shrunk, as long as the price is the same.

A chocolate bar maker has shrunk the size of its flagship product by 10 per cent to maintain its bottom line. The company said: "We look to absorb costs...in this difficult environment [so] we've had to...slightly reduce the weight of [chocolate] bars for the first time since 2012, so that we can keep them competitive." The service industry is trying to avoid price rises. Hotels have made daily housekeeping services "opt in". This means that guests must now ask to get their room cleaned. Many other free services we have taken for granted are disappearing or being shrunk.

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'Shrinkflation' now widespread in goods and services

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English News Lessons: Free 27-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini-lesson - Shrinkflation - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events.

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Fashion changes, particularly for jeans. The latest trend is baggy jeans. Many fashion lovers say this is because of coronavirus. Many people put on weight during the pandemic, so their older skinny jeans don't fit. The CEO of Levi's spoke about the latest trend in baggier jeans. He said: "I think the pandemic definitely played a...role in consumers looking for a more comfortable, more relaxing denim." He said consumers have liked the baggy look before.

The CEO said baggier jeans could last for a decade. Skinny jeans are out and "balloon jeans" are in. He said: "The last real denim cycle was driven by skinny jeans. That cycle lasted about 10 years." He said skinny jeans would not go away, "but clearly, right now we are seeing a very strong demand for these looser fits". Levi's CFO said: "Some time in 2020, we came up with the balloon jeans, and we have seen people becoming a lot more casual."

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Levi's says baggier 'balloon' jeans are in

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English News Lessons: Free 27-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini-lesson - Levi's Jeans - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events.

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https://breakingnewsenglish.com/2308/230824-fukushima-radioactive-water.html

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Japan has started releasing radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean. The plant was hit by a huge earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. After the power plant was damaged, the power company stored radioactive water in 1,000 giant tanks. The water has been treated to reduce its radioactivity. It is now being slowly released into the Pacific Ocean through a long sea tunnel. Japan stated that the water is safe and would not harm the environment. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the water meets with international safety standards. It said there would be a "negligible radiological impact on people and the environment".

Many people in Japan, as well as countries near Japan, are angry that radioactive water is going into the Pacific. Local fishermen are worried they will not be able to sell their fish. China has already banned seafood from Fukushima and the capital city, Tokyo. China's foreign ministry called the release of the water a "wrongful decision" and asked Japan to stop. A spokesperson said: "Japan is putting its own self-interest over the long-term well-being of all humankind". Hong Kong is also worried about food safety. It said it would "immediately" stop importing some Japanese food products. South Korean activists have also protested, although Seoul understood that the water meets international standards.

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

Sources

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/21/asia/japan-fukushima-wastewater-release-decision-intl-hnk/index.html

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-release-fukushima-water-into-ocean-starting-aug-24-2023-08-22/

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20230822/p2g/00m/0na/033000c

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Japan releases Fukushima water into the ocean

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English News Lessons: Free 27-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini-lesson - Fukushima - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events.

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Lv.3
S.Korea, China clash on social media over kimchi   (3rd December, 2020)

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China and South Korea are arguing over a pickled food. The two countries are in a dispute over a savoury pickled cabbage dish. China is trying to win an international certificate for pao cai, a savoury vegetable dish from Sichuan province. However, South Korean officials are angry about this. They say this dish is too much like kimchi - perhaps the most famous food in South Korea. Kimchi is a staple in Korean cuisine. It is a traditional dish of salted and fermented vegetables, such as cabbage and Korean radish. It is made with a wide variety of seasonings, including chilli powder, spring onions, garlic, ginger, and salted seafood. Pao cai is a pickle, usually made using cabbage, mustard, peppers and ginger.

South Korea is angry that China says it has won certification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for its kimchi making process. South Korean officials say pao cai, "has nothing to do with kimchi". They added: "We need to understand that pao cai is different from kimchi." People in Korea are angry that China is trying to claim the standard for the kimchi-making process. A professor in Korea said: "China lacks efforts to understand the culture and history of surrounding nations." On social media in China, people said most kimchi eaten in South Korea is made in China. One person wrote: "Even the pronunciation of kimchi originated from Chinese."

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S.Korea, China clash on social media over kimchi

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China and South Korea are arguing over a pickled food. The two countries are in a dispute over a savoury pickled cabbage dish. China is trying to win an international certificate for pao cai, a savoury vegetable dish from Sichuan province. However, South Korean officials are angry about this.

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https://breakingnewsenglish.com/2308/230831-sleeping-temperature.html

Researchers find best temperature for sleeping well.    -Level 3-

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Scientists have discovered that fructose, a naturally occurring sugar, is a major driver of obesity. Fructose is also known as "fruit sugar". It occurs to varying degrees in fruit and vegetables. It is also used in processed form in high fructose corn syrup, which is in a lot of the food we eat, and promotes obesity. A study led by Dr Richard Johnson at the University of Colorado found that although fructose isn't the biggest source of calorific intake, it stimulates an urge to eat fattier food. Researchers posited a shift of focus on what we eat. They wrote: "All hypotheses recognize the importance of reducing 'junk' foods, [however] it remains unclear whether the focus should be on reducing [fructose] intake."

Dr Johnson and his colleagues conducted an exhaustive study of all known contributors to obesity. They found that the process of our body converting fructose into energy causes a drop in the levels of a compound called ATP. When ATP falls, our body tells us to eat more. Researchers call this process the fructose survival hypothesis. Johnson said: "Fructose is what triggers our metabolism to go into low power mode and lose our control of appetite, but fatty foods become the major source of calories that drive weight gain." Scientists have attributed the consumption of high amounts of fructose to health issues. The most common of these is non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

Fructose and Obesity - Level 4 or Fructose and Obesity - Level 5

Sources

https://www.sciencealert.com/major-study-claims-to-identify-the-root-cause-of-obesity-fructose

https://www.earth.com/news/fructose-puts-the-body-in-low-power-mode-fueling-obesity/

https://news.cuanschutz.edu/news-stories/what-drives-obesity-diets-high-in-fat-carbohydrates-actually-its-everything-and-fructose-is-at-the-center

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Study says fructose is a major cause of obesity

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English News Lesson on Fructose and Obesity: Study says fructose is a major cause of obesity - FREE worksheets, online activities, listening in 7 Levels...

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제목 : Google refuses to remove 'Gay music' video

LV. 3

날짜 : 17th March,2016

https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1603/160317-gay-music-video.html

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Google refuses to remove ‘gay music’ video

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English News Lessons: Free 26-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini-lesson - YouTube Video - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events.

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https://news.yahoo.com/huge-asian-trade-pact-signed-002503549.html

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Multinational companies to hire 250,000 refugees
Level3

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lv.3
Chinese airliner makes first commercial flight

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China has entered the business of making airplanes. The first Chinese-made commercial aircraft took off from Shanghai on Sunday and landed at Beijing Airport. The narrow-bodied C919 plane had 128 passengers on board. The company that made the plane is the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd. This is shortened to "COMAC". China's President Xi Jinping hailed the C919 aircraft as a "triumph of Chinese innovation". Newspapers in China called the C919 "a symbol of industrial prowess and national pride". A passenger on the flight was impressed with the plane. He said: "The flight was extremely smooth, comfortable and memorable. I'll remember this fondly for some time to come."

COMAC hopes to be a major player in the commercial airplane market. It hopes to compete with industry giants such as Boeing and Airbus. COMAC started developing the C919 in 2008. Production began in late 2011. In September 2022, it passed the standards to fly commercially in China. COMAC's first customer was China Eastern Airlines, which bought five of the aircraft. COMAC plans to build 150 planes each year for the next five years. A spokesperson said there were orders for more than 1,000 C919s from different Chinese airlines. He hopes airlines from other countries will soon start making orders. He added that the plane was an "important milestone" for China's aircraft industry.

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

Sources

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-28/china-jet-to-rival-airbus-boeing-makes-first-commercial-flight

https://english.news.cn/20230528/69edc8d64183415eb491c3d191a3621f/c.html

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/5/28/chinas-first-home-built-passenger-jet-makes-inaugural-flight

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Chinese airliner makes first commercial flight

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English News Lessons: Free 27-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini-lesson - COMAC Airline - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events.

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Lv. 3
Spotify will not ban AI-made music   (28th September 2023)
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-66882414

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Artificial intelligence websites such as ChatGPT and Google's Bard are less than a year old, but they have been asking many questions. One question is whether music and art produced by AI is real music and art. Daniel Ek, the boss of the music streaming site Spotify, has answered this question. He said there are many uses of AI for making music that are OK. He told the BBC that Spotify has no plans to ban all music created by artificial intelligence. This includes the auto-tune software that helps singers correct their pitch and can add vocal effects to a singer's voice. Mr Ek said auto-tunes improves music. One use of AI Mr Ek did not like was software for mimicking (copying) the voice of an artist.

Daniel Ek said using AI in music will be debated for "many, many years". He said the biggest problem is when AI copies the voice of other singers. Spotify deleted one song created by the AI platform Ghostwriter. The software copied the voices of the singers Drake, and The Weeknd. The song was even submitted for a Grammy music award, but it was rejected. Neither Drake nor The Weeknd knew about the song. Mr Ek highlighted how serious the problem of cloning singers' voices is. He said: "You can imagine someone uploading a song, claiming to be Madonna, even if they're not." He said it will be difficult to tell if a song is "sung" by a bot or a human. He added that the future of music production is going to be "tricky".

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

Sources

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-66882414

https://cybernews.com/news/spotify-will-not-ban-ai-created-content/

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/spotify-not-ban-ai-made-233353784.html

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English News Lessons: Free 27-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini-lesson - Spotify - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events.

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TikTok users will soon be able to upload 10-minute-long videos. The video platform launched worldwide in 2018 allowing users to create one-minute videos. That length tripled in July 2021 to three minutes. TikTok says an extension to 10 minutes will allow people to be more creative. A company spokesperson said: "We're always thinking about new ways to...enrich the TikTok experience." She added: "We introduced longer videos, giving our community more time to create and be entertained. Today, we're excited to start rolling out the ability to upload videos that are up to 10 minutes, which we hope would unleash even more creative possibilities for our creators around the world."

Social media consultant Matt Navarra said the new time limit means TikTok will be a bigger rival to YouTube. However, TikTok could lose users who prefer shorter videos. They could switch to other social media platforms, like Instagram's Reels, Snapchat's Spotlight, or YouTube's Shorts. Mr Navarra says shorter videos are more popular with younger people, who are used to "whizzing" through videos "at speed". He says longer videos are more suited to older people. Navarra believes the longer videos may increase TikTok's profits as they are "easier to monetize and keep people on-platform longer". Short, bite-sized videos are one of the reasons for TikTok's huge popularity. It has more than one billion monthly active users.

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

Sources

https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/28/22954525/tiktok-maximum-video-length-10-minutes

https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/tiktok-maximum-video-length-10-minutes-1235191773/

https://japantoday.com/category/tech/tiktok-videos-get-longer-in-challenge-to-youtube

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English News Lessons: Free 27-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini-lesson - 10-Minute TikTok - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events.

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Big rise in rates of depression among students

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English News Lessons: Free 27-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini-lesson - Depression - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events.

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레벨3
Multinational companies to hire 250,000 refugees.

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The number of refugees is increasing around the world. Many people are fleeing their countries because of war; others because they are unsafe in their homeland. They all want to find a new life in a safe country. Multinational companies will help around 250,000 refugees. They will give them a job. The companies made this offer on World Refugee Day. Adidas, Amazon, Pepsi and Starbucks are some of the more than 40 corporations who will help displaced people over the next three years. Kelly Clements, the U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, was happy about this news. She said: "The commitments that businesses are going to make are absolutely essential."

Kelly Clements said more than 110 million people have been displaced worldwide. Around 12 million of these are from Ukraine. More than 6.8 million have fled Syria and 5.7 million have left Afghanistan. Ms Kelly said: "Every number is a story of an individual family who left everything, seeking safety, seeking protection and wanting to be able to rebuild." An Amazon spokesperson explained why hiring refugees would benefit the company. He said: "This is good for us as a company because the opportunity to add diversity to our workforce will continue to make us a stronger company." He added that: "Diversity brings innovation, creativity and different [points of view]."

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

Sources

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-refugees-hiring-b788fcf75597e8a5f1f0a846e0b58c37

https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/06/19/amazon-starbucks-others-vow-to-help-250000-refugees-in-europe-get-jobs/

https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/

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Multinational companies to hire 250,000 refugees

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English News Lessons: Free 27-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini-lesson - Refugees - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events.

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‘Google killer’ ChatGPT sparks AI chatbot race

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It has been two months since the public launch of AI chatbot ChatGPT by the firm OpenAI - and it did not take long for people to start noticing what a game-changer this really is.

Whether you have asked it to write you a song in the style of your favourite musician, sneaked in a homework question (500 words on the end of World War Two? no problem), tasked it to write copy for your company website, write a speech or even churn out specific program code, ChatGPT has proved that it can deliver - and in a convincing way.

There has been acres of reporting about its potential threat to a wide range of jobs, and indeed to our entire model of education if students can get their coursework done and university applications written instantly via ChatGPT or its rivals.

That said - this tech is still, comparatively, in its infancy. It is text only, restricted to content from the internet as it was in 2021, and does not update. It presents its answers as fact, when as we know the net is full of misinformation, some of it more dangerous than others.

We tried to get it to write an article for the BBC website, and the journalist who worked on it said it needed lots of prompting and revisions before there was something even close to being of a quality we might publish. In the end it still was not good enough, so we didn't.

Our journalist said although it churned out copy quickly, the process itself became very time-consuming because he had to keep going back to it and specifically asking it to explain more about one thing, or focus less on another.

But the creators of ChatGPT have a far more lucrative goal in mind than simply taking my job. The bigger picture is the multi-billion dollar sector that is internet search. And that is why it has been dubbed the Google killer.

Google's parent company Alphabet made $104bn (£86bn) in revenue in 2020 alone, just from search. Taking even a tiny fraction of that market would be a huge prize - and it is no coincidence that Microsoft, which owns the search engine Bing, has announced a multi-billion dollar partnership with OpenAI.

The internet is full of supposedly leaked pictures of a ChatGPT-powered Bing. Imagine going to a search engine, typing in your query and back comes one definitive answer, rather than pages and pages of links (and ads) to wade through?

My contacts at Microsoft are staying tight-lipped, but we do know it is due to announce some news this week.

Google has just announced the launch of its own rival - an AI chatbot called Bard. It is understood to have brought the announcement forward following all the speculation about Microsoft and ChatGPT.

Bard is based on Google's language learning model Lamda, which is said to be so human-like in its responses that one engineer who worked on it said he believed it was sentient (he was fired, and Google has always denied the claim). The tech giant has also just announced a $300m investment in a firm called Anthropic, which is developing a rival to ChatGPT.

Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, launched its own AI chatbot Blenderbot in the US last summer, and in China, the tech giant Baidu says an advanced version of its chatbot Ernie (also known as Wenxin Yiyan) will roll out in March 2023.

Are we about to see a battle of the chatbots?

ChatGPT itself said, rather diplomatically, that "it is not a matter of one being 'better' than the other" when I asked it which was best.

"I do not have the capability or intention to harm any company, including Google," it added.

But with investment dollars pouring into AI chat, it may well be that ChatGPT has to toughen up on that particular viewpoint. Not that it has one, of course. Yet.

You can follow Zoe Kleinman on Twitter @zsk.

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'Google killer' ChatGPT sparks AI chatbot race

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It has been two months since the public launch of AI chatbot ChatGPT by the firm OpenAI - and it did not take long for people to start noticing what a game-changer this really is.

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Hundreds of thousands of children suffer bed poverty, says Barnardo's

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Hundreds of thousands of children suffer bed poverty, says Barnado’s

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CHILDREN are sleeping on the floor or sharing mouldy or soiled beds, because families cannot afford to replace broken beds and mattresses or provide adequate bedding to counter cold and damp, new research has found.

The children's charity Barnardo's, which describes the situation as "bed poverty", commissioned a YouGov survey, conducted in August, of 1049 parents with children under 18 and 1013 children (aged 8-17) in Great Britain.

The findings were published on Thursday in the charity's report, No crib for a bed: The impact of the cost of living crisis on bed poverty, in which frontline staff give countless examples of families having to prioritise essentials such as food, heating, and electricity over replacing mouldy bedding or fixing a rotten bed.

As many as 700,000 children could be sharing beds and as many as 440,000 sleeping on the floor, the report estimates, which is harming children's development, attendance at school, and mental health.

The report estimates that 187,000 families in the UK have been unable to change their children's bedding in the past 12 months because they cannot afford to wash and dry it; more than 336,000 families have not been able to afford to replace or repair their child's broken bed; 204,000 families have seen their children's bed or bedding getting mouldy or damp; and 281,000 families have had to choose between paying for heating or food and getting a new bed or bedding.

"Bed poverty is just one aspect of child poverty, yet it starkly illustrates the challenges faced by families' not having enough money to afford the essentials needed to raise happy and healthy children," the chief executive of Barnardo's, Lynn Perry, said on Thursday. "The Government must take urgent action to address these deep rooted issues."

One mother of three sons - aged six months, six, and three years old - is quoted in the report. "We can only afford a food budget of £50 a month, and as the boys are sleeping on the floor, it's really hard for them to get to sleep," she said.

"I have to keep the heating on in the evening to try and make it more comfortable for them, and then I wake up early to turn it on again before they wake up. We have sleepless nights worrying about the situation and what will happen."

Of the children surveyed, 11 per cent reported having to share a bed or sleep on the floor in the past year - the equivalent of 894,000 children in the UK. When asked how they felt about sharing a bed with someone else, 20 per cent of children said that they felt tired the next day, during school lessons, and 13 per cent during sports. Another 11 per cent said that they were embarrassed by the sleeping arrangements, eight per cent said that they were anxious, ten per cent said that they were unhappy, and 14 per cent, moody.

Support staff at Barnardo's have been securing mattresses, bedding, and cots, as well as providing beds for parents or carers who have nowhere to sleep in their own home. They report that many families are living in inappropriate properties, leading to significant overcrowding - here, the provision of bunk beds and triple bunk beds has helped to make use of small spaces. They have also found many instances of poor ventilation and a lack of heating.

The affect of poor sleeping arrangements on children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is included in the report. "Some have continence issues and this means they need replacement bedding more often. . . The costs for beds and bedding can be considerably more than for non-disabled children and families," one family worker said.

Another family worker said that parents knew that the minimum was to provide a warm bed for their children. "They're fully aware, but they're ashamed they can't provide this." Another recorded a visit three weeks before Christmas 2022 where the eldest daughter in the family was sleeping on a mattress with no cover sheet and a sleeping bag that did not zip.

The charity makes three recommendations to the Government: to end the two-child limit on social benefits; to implement an "Essentials Guarantee" which would ensure that the minimum Universal Credit payment protected people from going without essential items such as beds and bedding; and to fix the Household Support Fund, so that families in crisis receive help with essentials when they are most needed.

Funding for the Household Support Fund will run out in March. Without its renewal, local crisis support will be significantly affected, the charity says. It calls for an extension of the fund in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement in November.

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Hundreds of thousands of children suffer bed poverty, says Barnardo's

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CHILDREN are sleeping on the floor or sharing mouldy or soiled beds, because families cannot afford ...

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The post-pandemic wardrobe for men and women appears to be looser fitting jeans with wide legs as folks adjust out of comfy joggers, with a few extra pounds on their frames.

"What we are seeing is as people turn back to denim, we are seeing people buying baggier fits. Sometime in 2020, we came up with the balloon jean, and we have seen people becoming a lot more casual," said Levi's CFO Harmit Singh on Yahoo Finance Live. "Forty percent of our women's business in quarter one was looser fit. And the men's business is up dramatically."

Those balloon jeans did their part to power Levi's to a better than expected first quarter.

While sales fell 13% from a year ago as the pandemic continued to hurt store traffic, Levi's gross margins rose a solid 250 basis points from a year ago. Global digital sales rose 41% year-over-year.

Here is how Levi's performed compared with Wall Street estimates on its earnings day Thursday evening:

Net Sales: $1.31 billion vs. $1.25 billion

Diluted EPS: 34 vs. 25 cents a share

First Half 2021 Outlook: Sales up 24% to 25% and adjusted earnings of 41 cents to 42 cents, which suggests earnings of 7 cents to 8 cents in the second quarter. Wall Street had been banking on earnings of 5 cents a share for the second quarter.

Levi's shares rose 2.5% on Friday amid the upbeat outlook.

Singh thinks the world is entering a new denim cycle as lives begin to change following vaccinations. That has Wall Street staying mostly bullish on Levi's shares this year.

"We believe the organic health of Levi's business is getting better overall as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, with the company seeing improving wholesale trends as well as increased denim demand as the world re-opens. We are encouraged by the company's offensive strategy, strong brand, experienced management team, and healthy financial position," said Guggenheim retail analyst Robert Drbul in a post earnings research note. Drbul rates Levi's shares at a Buy with a $29 price target, or 12% above current price levels.
What's hot from Sozzi:

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Levi's 'balloon jeans' emerge as the post pandemic hot style

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Levi's sees a pickup in its men's business as the pandemic starts to round the corner at long last. Here's what men are buying for their post-pandemic lives.

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China’s first home built passenger jet makes inaugural flight

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China’s first home-built passenger jet makes inaugural flight

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The C919 commercial plane flew from Shanghai to Beijing as China seeks to compete with Airbus and Boeing.

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Kenya's attempt to stop people from watching a music video celebrating gay couples is backfiring. Three weeks after trying to ban a local rap artist's remake of Same Love, by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Google Kenya has refused to pull the video from YouTube, where it has now been viewed over 140,000 times.

Kenyan regulators banned the video in late February, claiming that the content threatens to turn the country into " Sodom and Gomorrah" and declaring that anyone caught distributing it would be punished. But the agency that banned it also retweeted a link to it -which ended up bringing more attention to Kenya's nascent gay rights campaign.

The video, made by Art Attack, is a snapshot of being gay in Kenya, where homosexuality is considered an "unnatural offense" punishable by imprisonment up to 14 years in prison. The chorus, "I can't change even if I tried," plays over a montage of newspaper articles headlined, "A disease worse than alcohol" and "Homos are filthy."

The video cuts to images of anti-gay protests in Nairobi last year, ahead of US president Barack Obama's visit, and two young women kissing on a bench in a forest, away from the public eye.

The video also features photos of the writer Binyavanga Wainaina, one of the few openly gay Kenyan public figures, as well as George Barasa, a Kenyan gospel artist who came out in 2013. "Somebody has to stand and speak against what is going on," Barasa told Reuters earlier this month.

A lawyer for Google Kenya told the Kenya Films Classification Board (KFCB), the country's regulator of all visual content, that it cannot take down the video because it operates separately from YouTube, according to local media reports over the weekend.

A spokesperson for Google in the US told Quartz by email, "YouTube has clear policies that outline what content is acceptable to post and we remove videos violating these policies when flagged by our users. We review government removal requests when notified through the correct legal processes and in keeping with our company philosophy on transparency and freedom of expression."

Even the head of KFCB, Ezekiel Mutua admits that homosexuality is an evolving issue in Kenya. Matua told local media that the country is dealing with a " war of ideologies " and that if a homosexual man applied for a job with the regulator he would not be turned away.

"But if they kiss one another man in public," , "they will be condemned."

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Google has refused government demands to take down a gay music video in Kenya

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Being gay in Kenya is considered a crime, punishable by imprisonment of up to 14 years.

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brand safety-nsf products and consumers negative

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waste management and remediation services

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Japan to start releasing Fukushima wastewater as soon as Thursday | CNN

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Japan will begin releasing treated radioactive water from Fukushima into the ocean as early as Thursday, officials announced on Tuesday, following months of heightened public anxiety and pushback from many neighboring countries.

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S. Korea refutes China's claim on industrial standard for kimchi

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Kimchi is not just fermented cabbage but a central part of Korea's food culture, and the process of making it has already been recognized as a global standard for nearly two decades, Seoul's agriculture ministry said Monday.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs made the remark to refute Chinese media's claim that Beijing has won a certification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for its kimchi making process.

The ministry said Beijing won ISO certification for pao cai, another type of pickled vegetable consumed in China, which "has nothing to do with kimchi."

"We need to understand that pao cai is different from kimchi," the ministry said.

China began the process of standardizing pao chai in 2019, and five ISO members -- China, Turkey, India, Iran and Serbia -- last week approved categories of pao cai, according to the ISO document, which said, "This document does not apply to kimchi."

The ministry said the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a body under the United Nations, officially recognized the industrial standard for kimchi in 2001, which stated ingredients, food additives labeling and the name of the product.

China's claim on making the international standard for kimchi sparked strong responses from local media, as many people regard it as Korea's soul food and often link it to the nation's identity.

The whole process of making kimchi, called "kimjang" -- washing and salting vegetables, saucing them with garlic, red pepper and salted fish, and burying them underground in breathable clay jars -- was designated UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013.

Though making and sharing kimchi in large quantities in early winter was an essential part of community life in the past, more people in urban areas are buying packaged kimchi in supermarkets, with some storing them in special refrigerators for kimchi.

Experts say South Korea should remain alert over China's attempts to claim rights over cultural assets, pointing out that Chinese media reports' false alarm did not come as a coincidence.

"Such attempts came as China lacks efforts to understand the culture and history of surrounding nations," Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women's University, told Yonhap News Agency.

"Both the government and civic groups need to take strong action against China's moves to take cultural assets away from Korea."

Seo argued that there is no doubt that kimchi has strong global recognition as an inherent part of the Korean culture.

"So-called cultural appropriation can happen when one group envies a tradition of another," Seo said. "With South Korea cultural content expanding its influence on a global scale, it seems that China is making efforts to claim that such content was traced to them."

In response to the neighboring nation's attempt to lay claim to Korean traditional food, the South Korean government vowed to step up efforts to promote kimchi at home and abroad by conducting academic research on its health benefits and supporting cultural events to boost related businesses.

"South Korea plans to continue making efforts to improve exports of kimchi by establishing a stable supply chain of ingredients and improving its quality and competitiveness," the ministry said.

Outbound shipments of kimchi came to $109 million over the January-September period, up 38.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the ministry. (Yonhap)

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S. Korea refutes China's claim on industrial standard for kimchi

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Kimchi is not just fermented cabbage but a central part of Korea's food culture, and the process of making it has already been recognized as a global standard for nearly two decades, Seoul's agriculture ministry said Monday.

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Palm oil is in half of all the food we buy. It is also in cosmetics and biofuel. However, making palm oil damages the environment. Researchers believe they have found an alternative to palm oil. They have created a plant-based oil that is better for the environment. This is because it is more sustainable. It also means less biodiversity loss. It is also healthier. It has 80 per cent less saturated fat and 30 per cent fewer calories than palm oil.

PALM-ALT could change how things are made. Trees in tropical countries have to be cut down to make palm oil. However, PALM-ALT is made from a flower and seeds. A researcher spoke about PALM-ALT. She said it was an answer scientists wanted to find. She tested it to see if people could tell the difference between PALM-ALT and traditional palm oil. They couldn't. She is hoping businesses will start using PALM-ALT instead of regular palm oil.

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English News Lessons: Free 27-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini-lesson - Palm-alt Oil - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events.

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Incorporating plenty of fruits into what you eat on a daily basis is an important way to maintain a healthy and balanced diet.

Different fruits have different health benefits, and nutritionists recommend eating a wide variety to give your body a boost wherever it needs. Some foods could even be beneficial to specific body functions, and a new study has suggested that one type of fruit could help improve your vision in old age.

Grapes, which are full of powerful antioxidants, have been found to benefit vision when eaten every day. According to a study published in the scientific journal Food & Function recently - which is said to be the first of its kind - showed that eating one-and-a-half cups of grapes every day for 16 weeks resulted in a "significant" benefit in the eye health of older adults.

The researchers found that the adults who ate the grapes saw an improvement in Macular Pigment Optical Density (MPOD), which has beneficial effects on the retina, and showed an increase in plasma antioxidant capacity and total phenolic content.

Dr Jung Eun Kim, who led the study, said: "Our study is the first to show that grape consumption beneficially impacts eye health in humans, which is very exciting, especially with a growing ageing population. Grapes are an easy, accessible fruit that studies have shown can have a beneficial impact in normal amounts of just one-and-a-half cups per day."

Aside from grapes, a number of other fruits contain essential vitamins and nutrients that can help us live healthier lives. We asked registered nutritionist Caroline Farrell about which fruits have the most nutritional benefits.
Blueberries
Farrell says: "These are high in antioxidants called anthocyanins, which have been linked to improved cognitive function and reduced risk of heart disease."
Cherries
These juicy fruits may raise melatonin levels, which could improve sleep quality.

Avocado
Although often considered a vegetable, avocados are actually a fruit! Farrell says: "They are rich in healthy fats, particularly monosaturated fats, which are good for heart health."
Grapes
Apart from being good for your vision, grapes - especially red grapes - contain resveratrol, an antioxidant that protects against ageing.
Pineapples

Pineapples are a good source of bromelain, an enzyme that may aid digestion.
Mangoes
These sweet tropical fruits are rich in vitamins A and C, Farrell says, which are beneficial for skin health and immune function.
Cranberries
They might be at their most popular at Christmas dinner, but cranberries are actually known for their role in improving urinary tract health.
Watch: the 5 Best Fruits to Help Improve Your Heart Health Read more:
An apple a day: Is it time for GPs to prescribe fruit and veg?(Yahoo Life UK, 3-min read)

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Fruits with the best health benefits, as study reveals grapes can improve eyesight

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Nutritionists recommend eating a wide variety of fruits for a healthy and balanced diet.

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ChatGPT and Google Bard in A.I. chatbot race
LV. 5

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ChatGPT and Google Bard in A.I. chatbot race

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English News Lessons: Free 27-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini-lesson - ChatGPT - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events.

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Amazon, Marriott and other companies vow to hire thousands of refugees in Europe

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Lv. 4
Japan to recognize Ainu indigenous people for first time
https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1902/190220-ainu-4.html

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Japan to recognize Ainu indigenous people for first time

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English News Lessons: Free 27-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini-lesson - Ainu - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events.

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Level 3 Mercedes makes mind-control car

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Cars are becoming more and more technologically advanced. In the past decade, we have seen improvements in electric car technology and driverless cars. The latest advance comes from Mercedes-Benz. The luxury carmaker has unveiled a car that lets you use your mind to control certain things. The car giant unveiled its futuristic car at the IAA Mobility show in Munich earlier this week. The car is called Vision AVTR. The four capitalized letters at the end of its name are to make people think of the movie Avatar. This movie was about using the brain to connect with nature. A Mercedes spokesperson said the car would not be available for purchase any time soon. It is currently in the concept stage of production.

Mercedes is using a technology called brain-computer interface (BCI) in the Vision AVTR. The car's computers "read" brain signals and translate them into actions. Mercedes says the system needs about a minute to get to understand a new driver's thought processes. The driver will then be able to perform certain functions in the car using just their thoughts. Mercedes spokeswoman Britta Seeger spoke about how exciting she thought the futuristic car was. She said: "Mercedes-Benz is setting another milestone in the merging of man and machine." The Mercedes website says: "As soon as you get in, the car becomes an extension of your own body and a tool to discover the environment."

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

Sources

https://mashable.com/article/mercedes-benz-vision-avtr-mind-read

https://www.techradar.com/news/mercedes-is-showing-off-actual-working-in-car-mind-control

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/16065137/new-mercedes-vision-avtr-mind-control-brain/

Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

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Cars are becoming more and more technologically advanced. In the past decade, we have seen improvements in electric car technology and driverless cars. The latest advance comes from Mercedes-Benz. The luxury carmaker has unveiled a car that lets you use your mind to control certain things.

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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12451731/The-secret-good-sleep-Dont-let-things-hot-bedroom-Researchers-discover-ideal-temperature-restful-night.html

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https://breakingnewsenglish.com/2011/201117-free-trade-deal.html

원문https://m.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20201115000235

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https://naver.me/xn6GgWSt
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-66882414

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Mental illness among college students has skyrocketed, studies show. Getty Images/Maskot

College students already juggle school, work, friends, hormones - and in comes a new challenge: navigating mental healthcare.

Researchers at Boston University recently revealed some staggering findings - that depression among college students increased by nearly 135% over eight years, while anxiety surged 110%.

Unfortunately, those rates have well outpaced the demand for available and affordable mental health services, they said.

"Living in a new setting and away from home can often create overwhelming and stressful circumstances, and recently we've added the stress of the pandemic to the mix," Sarah Lipson, a health policy professor at Boston University's School of Public Health and the study's lead author, told the Washington Post earlier this month - amid back-to-school season.

Lipson's team also looked at rates of eating disorders, non-suicidal self-injury and suicidal ideation, which increased at rates of nearly 96%, almost 46% and 64% respectively. As for "flourishing," rates decreased overall.

The study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders in June, analyzed data from more than 350,000 students across 373 campuses, collected by the Health Minds Network between 2013 to 2021.

To no surprise, depression increased most on average during the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2020 and 2021, over 60% of students met the criteria for at least one mental illness - double the rate of 2013.

In March, the World Health Organization announced that depression increased 25% globally due to the pandemic, adding support to BU researchers' findings.

Furthermore, they noted a decrease in the rate of college students seeking help and mental health services, especially among racial and ethnic minorities.

The data concerned the study authors, who noted a 45% increase of one or more mental health problems among multiracial students, while past-year treatment seeking only grew 9% among the same group.

College students are suffering mental illness at rates that have outpaced campus resources.

Getty Images

Similar mental health data has been reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, calling it a "cry for help" from young Americans.

The shocking numbers come at a time when good therapists are increasingly few and far between, according to the federal Health and Resource Service Administration. The agency has estimated that the US will be short 8,000 clinical, counseling and school psychologists by the year 2025.

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Majority of college students have a mental illness: study

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Researchers at Boston University recently revealed some staggering findings - that depression among college students increased by nearly 135% over eight years, while anxiety surged 110%.

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The sportswear maker Nike has announced it will use American football player Colin Kaepernick in its advertising campaign to celebrate its "Just Do It" 30th anniversary. Mr Kaepernick ignited controversy in 2016 while playing as quarterback for his team the San Francisco 49ers. He refused to stand for the national anthem as a protest against racial injustice and social issues. Instead he knelt down on one knee. This started a trend of other players "taking the knee" in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Kaepernick's actions caused heated debate. In September 2017, President Donald Trump tweeted that NFL players should be either fired or suspended if they failed to stand up for the national anthem.

Nike will use a close-up image of Kaepernick's face with the caption: "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything." Nike supplies the uniforms for all the NFL's 32 teams and is a corporate sponsor of the NFL. The company knows it will receive a backlash for using Mr Kaepernick in its ads. However, it said: "We believe Colin is one of the most inspirational athletes of this generation, who has leveraged the power of sport to help move the world forward." Yahoo Sports said: "It's an interesting decision for Nike. No other athlete produces the same emotional response as Kaepernick." Many on social media applauded Nike for its decision. One person tweeted: "Time to throw away all my Nike crap."

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Nike uses NFL protest player in ad campaign

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The sportswear maker Nike has announced it will use American football player Colin Kaepernick in its advertising campaign to celebrate its "Just Do It" 30th anniversary. Mr Kaepernick ignited controversy in 2016 while playing as quarterback for his team the San Francisco 49ers.

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Surely there will be a calm, rational, well reasoned response to this story.

Nike revealed, through ESPN's Darren Rovell, that it is making Colin Kaepernick the face of its "Just Do It" 30th anniversary ad campaign.

The initial image, announced through Rovell, has a close up of Kaepernick's face with the caption: "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything."

BREAKING: Nike had been paying Colin Kaepernick all along, waiting for the right moment. That moment is now, as he becomes the face of the company's 30th anniversary of the "Just Do It" campaign. pic.twitter.com/uccpDStbq5

- Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 3, 2018

Nike and NFL have a significant business relationship

The NFL season will start Thursday, and Kaepernick remains unsigned. That whole story makes the Kaepernick-Nike alliance a bit more interesting.

Kaepernick recently won the summary judgment phase of his collusion case against the NFL, which indicated arbitrator Stephen Burbank felt there was enough merit in the arguments and evidence produced by Kaepernick's lawyers to warrant a trial in the case. It was a loss for the NFL, which has claimed there was no collusion to keep Kaepernick out of the league, although dozens of less-qualified quarterbacks have signed with teams since Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem to bring attention to social issues.

Nike is a corporate sponsor with the NFL. They provide the official jerseys for the league that Kaepernick is trying to beat in a collusion case.

Colin Kaepernick will draw emotional responses on both sides

The Kaepernick-Nike campaign has actually been a while in the making, according to Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson.

A lot behind the curtain here. @Nike had Kaepernick since 2011 but this is actually a new deal done by Kaepernick's reps @markgeragos & @meiselasb. Nike sat on Kaepernick for 2 years w/ no idea what to do with him. Interest from other shoe companies absolutely changed their tune. https://t.co/IJJnjxWHLS

- Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) September 3, 2018

Details on Kaepernick and #Nike:

- It's wide endorsement. He's going to have his own branded line. Shoes, shirts, jerseys, etc. There will be Kaepernick apparel.

- Contract is a "star" deal on par with a top end #NFL player. Millions per year. Star deals also include royalties.

- Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) September 3, 2018

It's an interesting decision for Nike. No other athlete produces the same emotional response as Kaepernick. Some will rip Nike and claim they'll never buy their products again. Others who support Kaepernick will gladly shift their dollars to Nike for its support of the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, who is viewed as a hero to many for standing up for social issues even if it meant the NFL ultimately would freeze him out.

If Nike wanted the maximum attention possible for its new advertising campaign, mission accomplished.

Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
Follow @YahooSchwab

More from Yahoo Sports:
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* MLB postseason picture takes shape

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Nike makes Colin Kaepernick the face of 'Just Do It' 30th anniversary campaign

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Nike announced Colin Kaepernick would be the face of a new ad campaign celebrating the 30th anniversary of its "Just Do It" slogan.

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Is TikTok still a short-form video platform? It seems less and less so, after the company announced today that it's expanding the maximum length for uploads to 10 minutes. TikTok has been testing ever-longer uploads for years, recently introducing three-minute videos last July, but this latest update is the largest increase yet, and will now roll out globally.

"We're always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience," said a company spokesperson in a statement given to The Verge. "Last year, we introduced longer videos, giving our community more time to create and be entertained on TikTok. Today, we're excited to start rolling out the ability to upload videos that are up to 10 minutes, which we hope would unleash even more creative possibilities for our creators around the world."

Some users were given the news as a notification within the app, as shared on Twitter by social media consultant and analyst Matt Navarra:

Although TikTok's meteoric rise to popularity was founded on a never-ending stream of short videos tailored to catch users' attention, the company has been pushing longer content for a while now. Longer videos allow TikTok to better compete with YouTube (which skews heavily toward lengthy content) as well as capture an older audience and increase overall engagement time on the app. At the same time, a switch to longer content may hurt the firm by limiting the amount of data it can collect on users' watching habits, which is what allows it to customize the algorithms it uses to attract users in the first place. In other words: getting the length of content right is something of a balancing act.

Ironically, as TikTok expands to offer creators and users longer content, its rivals - spurred by TikTok's success - have done the opposite. Instagram launched short-form videos in the form of Reels, YouTube has the aptly-named Shorts, and Snapchat offers what it calls Spotlight. All these companies are trying to get the formula right.

Speaking to The Verge, Navarra says longer-form content is, in general, "easier to monetize and keeps people on platform longer." But he says TikTok will now need to work out exactly how to position and present these videos on its platform. "They could do with a dedicated home for longer-form content as [it] doesn't sit so well in the vertical feed with shorter stuff people are used to whizzing through at speed," he says.

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TikTok expands maximum video length to 10 minutes

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TikTok has expanded the maximum length for videos on its platform to 10 minutes. The company has been offering longer and longer videos in recent years to compete with rivals like YouTube.

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Mercedes-Benz is experimenting with mind control in vehicles

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Mercedes-Benz has used the IAA Mobility 2021 show in Munich this week to unveil a number of new vehicles, but it's a concept car that's turning heads because it uses mind control.

Concept vehicles demonstrate what could be possible in the future rather than what will be in next year's vehicles, and the Vision AVTR is exactly that. There's no wheel, buttons, or dials inside the car, just smooth surfaces capable of acting as a display. Interacting with the car's systems will be achieved through a brain-computer interface (BCI).

"Mercedes-Benz is setting another milestone in the merging of man and machine with the research and development of brain-computer interface applications in cars. BCI technology has the potential to further enhance driving comfort in the future, for example," said Britta Seeger, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG, responsible for Sales.

The driver will wear a BCI device attached to the back of their head, and after a short calibration, it can measure brain waves and trigger a number of predefined actions. Light dots are projected on to the digital dashboard, which the driver can focus on to trigger a specific action. The BCI device detects which light dot is the focus and initiates the desired response.

If and when Mercedes-Benz launches a vehicle with thought control depends on a number of factors, such as how reliable it is and how easily a driver can change their focus while also concentrating on the road ahead. That in turn means there are also a few safety questions that need to be answered.

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Mercedes-Benz Is Experimenting With Mind Control in Vehicles

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Drivers will be able to change settings as they drive by staring at light dots and thinking about them.

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Who are the indigenous Ainu people of Japan?

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Japan is a country which often touts its ethnic homogeneity. That narrative, however, erases the country's Ainu indigenous people, who have inhabited the north of the country long before the arrival of the Japanese.

For the first time ever, the government will officially recognize the Ainu people of Hokkaido as an indigenous people of Japan following the approval of a bill by the cabinet last week. The bill, which now has to go before Japan's lawmakers, also includes provisions to make the country a more inclusive society for the Ainu, including measures to promote their culture and and extend economic support to their homeland.

According to the Hokkaido government's "Survey on the Ainu Living Conditions" conducted in 2013, there are about 17,000 Ainu living in Japan, although the Ainu Association of Hokkaido estimates the number to be larger than that as that survey was not conducted nationwide, and the survey only counts those who self-identify as Ainu.

The origins of the Ainu people are unclear, but according to Richard Siddle, a professor at Hokkaido University who researches the indigenous group, a distinct Ainu culture emerged in northern Japan around the 13th century, as contact between the inhabitants of Hokkaido and Japan's main island of Honshu started to increase, mostly in the form of trade. At the time, the Ainu population extended as far into present day Sakhalin in the Russian Far East.

As the ethnic Japanese of the southern islands, known as , gradually increased their economic influence around Hokkaido, conflict arose. The Ainu and Japanese fought a series of wars between the 15th and 18th centuries, such that by the 19th century, the northern island came under Japanese control, with its name changed formally from Ezo to Hokkaido. Mass migration of Japanese to "settle" Hokkaido also began.

The relationship between the Ainu and the Japanese then followed one that is familiar to indigenous peoples all around the world. Seen as an uncivilized and primitive people who were doomed to die out, the Japanese government in the late 19th century-which was in the midst of a revolution to modernize and Westernize the country-instituted the Hokkaido Aborigine Protection Act. This was a bid to force the Ainu to assimilate, for example, by granting them small plots of land to get them to farm instead of carrying on with the fishing and hunting that they were long used to. They were also prohibited from speaking the Ainu language and had to speak Japanese instead. Over a century of discrimination of Ainu people ensured, with one recent survey for example finding the percentage of Ainu who go to university far lower than the Hokkaido average.

There has been a revival in Ainu culture in the last two decades, thanks in part to the Ainu Culture Promotion and Dissemination of Information Concerning Ainu Traditions Act passed in 1997, together with the abolishment of the 1899 law. Teruki Tsunemoto, the director of Hokkaido University's Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies, said the act helped bring about a change in people's attitudes toward Ainu culture and encouraged people to proactively express their heritage, for example through language. The Ainu language-which is linguistically isolated from any other-is designated by UNESCO as an endangered tongue. Historically passed down only in , the number of people who speak Ainu could be as low as a dozen, though more and more people with Ainu heritage are trying to keep the language alive.

A new national museum and other facilities about the Ainu is also scheduled to open in 2020 in Hokkaido-in time for the tourist boom that is expected to accompany the Olympics in Tokyo. And local governments around Hokkaido have in recent years been trying to tap (paywall) the ballooning number of foreign visitors to Japan by promoting the island's indigenous culture and the unspoiled environment associated with Ainu culture. Indeed, many of the names of Hokkaido's best known tourist spots, such as ski resorts Niseko and Rusutsu, as well as the prefectural capital Sapporo, are Ainu in origin.

In addition to the Ainu, Japan has also long been home to a Korean minority, while many people of the southern Okinawan islands also consider themselves a distinct ethnic group. Meanwhile, an ethnically Japanese, social minority of outcasts known as the burakumin continue to fight for equality (paywall), while increasing immigration into the country will continue to chip away at the myth of a homogeneous Japan.

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Who are the indigenous Ainu people of Japan?

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The Japanese government will for the first time formally recognize the Ainu people of Hokkaido as an indigenous people of the country.

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레벨 3
Amazon, Marriott and other companies vow to hire thousands of refugees in Europe

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FILE - A person walks past the San Francisco Marriott Union Square hotel on July 11, 2019, in San Francisco. Multinational companies including Amazon, Marriott and Hilton pledged Monday June 19, 2023 to hire more than 13,000 refugees, including Ukrainian women who have fled the war with Russia, over the next three years in Europe. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

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FILE - An Amazon company logo is seen on the facade of a company's building in Schoenefeld near Berlin, Germany, on March 18, 2022. Multinational companies including Amazon, Marriott and Hilton pledged Monday June 19, 2023 to hire more than 13,000 refugees, including Ukrainian women who have fled the war with Russia, over the next three years in Europe. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)

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FILE - United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Deputy High Commissioner Kelly Clements testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, on April 12, 2016. Multinational companies including Amazon, Marriott and Hilton pledged Monday June 19, 2023 to hire more than 13,000 refugees, including Ukrainian women who have fled the war with Russia, over the next three years in Europe. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

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LONDON (AP) - Multinational companies including Amazon, Marriott and Hilton pledged Monday to hire more than 13,000 refugees, including Ukrainian women who have fled the war with Russia, over the next three years in Europe.

Just ahead of World Refugee Day on Tuesday, more than 40 corporations say they will hire, connect to work or train a total of 250,000 refugees, with 13,680 of them getting jobs directly in those companies.

"Every number is a story of an individual family who left everything, seeking safety, seeking protection and wanting to be able to rebuild as quickly as possible," said Kelly Clements, U.N. deputy high commissioner for refugees. "So the commitments that businesses are going to make on Monday are absolutely essential."

She says 110 million people have been displaced worldwide, with an estimated 12 million from Ukraine, nearly half of whom are living in Europe after the continent's largest movement of refugees since World War II.

The hiring push in Europe was organized by the Tent Partnership for Refugees, a nonprofit founded by Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya that connects businesses and refugees, and is being unveiled at a gathering in Paris. The group's first summit in the U.S. last year led to commitments to hire 22,725 refugees.

In the new round, Amazon leads the pack, vowing to hire at least 5,000 refugees over the next three years in Europe, followed by Marriott and Hilton with 1,500 each, Starbucks and ISS with 1,000 each, and smaller commitments from brands like Adidas, Starbucks, L'Oreal, PepsiCo and Hyatt.

"This is good for us as a company because the opportunity to add diversity to our workforce will continue to make us a stronger company," said Ofori Agboka, Amazon vice president overseeing human resources. "With diversity brings innovation, creativity, different insights."

He said the vast majority of jobs will be hourly roles at fulfillment and storage centers and in transport and delivery.

Amazon announced 27,000 job cuts earlier this year, part of a wave of layoffs after tech companies ramped up hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those layoffs primarily affected salaried office jobs, Agboka said.

Daria Sedihi-Volchenko fled Kyiv last year and now works in Warsaw, Poland, as a senior program manager for an Amazon Web Services program providing free tech training for Ukrainians. She says about 40% of those in the program have no tech background.

"I went through the same way as many of our learners ... are going through," she said. "I had to learn, and I took a commitment on my interview. I said that 'OK, if we can agree and I can start working for you, I promise to learn Polish and I promise to learn technical skills.'"

More than a year ago, Sedihi-Volchenko woke up to explosions from Russia's invasion.

"I was terrified. I was so scared for Ukraine, for the nation, for the future, for my own life," she said. "But also that was a shocking moment when I understood that everything in my life is changing."

She began living in basements but left as Russian forces approached Kyiv. She drove 40 hours to reach Moldova, thankful that she "didn't drive on a single land mine and nobody shot into my car."

She went to Poland to find work, embarking on an IT path after working as a project manager for government ministries and as an economist in Ukraine.

Companies are hoping refugees can fill staffing needs after the economy bounced back from the pandemic. In Europe, unemployment is at its lowest since the euro currency was introduced in 1999.

"We're seeing record levels of demand for our properties across many markets here in Europe," Marriott International CEO Anthony Capuano said. "And so we are hiring aggressively to make sure we can accommodate our guests as demand ramps up."

Marriott's jobs will largely be hourly positions like housekeepers, kitchen staff and front desk attendants.

European nations have welcomed Ukrainians, and while Clements applauded opening schools, workplaces and other opportunities to them, she said the same should be offered to others fleeing conflict and crises in places like Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan.

Sedihi-Volchenko knows the challenges ahead for refugees, even as some companies offer help with language skills, counseling and training. Job listings can be difficult to decipher, and like her, they may have difficulty securing a stable internet connection or work clothes.

"It's important to give a refugee just time to learn the language, but the person can start working because if you bring experience with IT systems or finance or project management or any other area, naturally, you understand, it's not so much about the language. You understand the flow of work," she said.

___

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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Amazon, Marriott and other companies vow to hire thousands of refugees in Europe

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Multinational companies including Amazon, Marriott, Hilton are pledging to hire more than 13,000 Ukrainian women and other refugees in Europe over the next three years.

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Nutrition experts have recognized for many years that Western diets rich in fats and sugar may be behind the cause of obesity, but debate has reigned over the primary culprit - intake of too many calories? Specific foods such as carbohydrates or fat? This has led to some groups recommending reducing sugar, some reducing carb intake, while others believe the key is reducing high fat-foods.

A paper published today in the research journal Obesity suggests these theories are not incompatible with each other, and that they can all be brought together in one unified pathway that centers around one true driver: fructose.

According to Richard Johnson, MD, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus researcher, and his colleagues, the primary problem in obesity is fructose, which is present in table sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Fructose can also be made in the body from carbohydrates (particularly glucose). When fructose is metabolized, it lowers the active energy in the body (known as ATP, or adenosine triphosphate) which causes hunger and food intake.

What Johnson calls the "fructose survival hypothesis" brings together most of the dietary hypotheses of obesity, including the two that have been most incompatible with each other- the energy balance theory, which proposes too much food (and primarily fat) drives obesity, and the carbohydrate-insulin model, which puts carbohydrates at the center of weight gain.

"Essentially, these theories, which put a litany of metabolic and dietary drivers at the center of the obesity epidemic, are all pieces of a puzzle unified by one last piece: fructose," says Johnson. "Fructose is what triggers our metabolism to go into low power mode and lose our control of appetite, but fatty foods become the major source of calories that drive weight gain."

To unify these theories in particular, Johnson says we can look to hibernating animals as an example. When we're hungry and low on active energy, we go into survival mode. Animals know to forage for food when energy levels begin to fall; why bears eat fruit to prepare for winter. Fruits are high-fructose foods, and fructose significantly stifles active energy. Fat acts as stored energy, but eating high-fructose foods blocks the replacement of active energy from fat storage, keeping active energy low like a bear preparing for a long winter's nap.

"This theory views obesity as a low-energy state," says Johnson. "Identifying fructose as the conduit that redirects active energy replacement to fat storage shows that fructose is what drives energy imbalance, which unites theories."

While more work is needed to fully validate this unifying hypothesis, this is a hopeful first step in potentially identifying more targeted preventions for obesity and related metabolic imbalance management.

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What Drives Obesity - Diets High in Fat? Carbohydrates? Actually, It's Everything - and Fructose Is at the Center

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What Drives Obesity - Diets High in Fat? Carbohydrates? Actually, it's Everything - and Fructose is at the Center

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NASA spacecraft hits asteroid in Earth-protection test

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English News Lessons: Free 27-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini-lesson - Asteroids - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events.

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A multimillion-dollar spacecraft collided head-on with an asteroid the size of a football stadium on Monday in an unprecedented test of Nasa's capacity to defend Earth from a doomsday scenario.

Nasa's craft successfully crashed into the asteroid Dimorphos 6.8m miles from Earth. The mission, known as Dart (Double Asteroid Redirection Test), marked humanity's first attempt at moving another celestial body, with the goal of seeing if a large asteroid hurtling toward our planet could be successfully diverted.

The spacecraft collided with the asteroid at 15,000mph at 7.14pm EDT. Livestreamed video showed the asteroid's rubble-strewn surface loominginto focus before the spacecraft hit and cheers erupted in the mission control room. Teams of Nasa and Johns Hopkins University scientists hugged each other as Dart's successful impact with Dimorphos was confirmed.

Shortly after impact, Lori Glaze, Nasa's planetary science division director, declared it a "new era of humankind".

"[It's] an era in which we potentially have the capability to protect ourselves from something like a dangerous, hazardous asteroid impact," said Glaze. "What an amazing thing. We've never had that capability before."

Samson Reony, the Johns Hopkins applied physics laboratory mission commentator, was equally exuberant about the "game-changing" achievement. "This is when science, engineering and a great purpose, planetary defense, come together, and, you know, it makes a magical moment like this," he said.

The test aims to determine if intentionally crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid is an effective way to change its trajectory. A relatively similar strategy involving a nuclear missile rather than an unmanned spacecraft failed during a key point in the plot of Morgan Freeman's fictional 1998 planetary disaster film Deep Impact.

At a post-mission press conference, Dart scientists described the mission as a success but cautioned that it will be about two months before they know if the spacecraft succeeded in its ultimate objective of altering Dimorphos's trajectory.

They hailed Monday as the "ideal outcome" of the first stage of the planetary defense test. Dart scored "basically a bullseye" on the asteroid, Dart deputy program manager Elena Adams said.

"We knew we were going to hit. All of us were holding our breath. I'm kind of surprised none of us passed out."

She said the craft had landed 17 meters from its target; close enough to represent a complete success. "It was basically a bullseye. I think, as far as we can tell, the first planetary defense test was a success, and we can clap to that."

Whether the impact had enough force to move the asteroid remains to be seen, and scientists will spend the next weeks monitoring the asteroid's speed and movements, and making calculations. Even so, Adams said: "Earthlings should sleep better, and I definitely will."

The Nasa mission represents the first attempt at moving another celestial body. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Scientists insisted Dart would not shatter Dimorphos. The spacecraft packed a scant 1,260 pounds (570kg), compared with the asteroid's 11bn pounds (5 bn kg). Dart's planned self-destruction posed no threats to humanity, a Nasa spokesperson, Glen Nagle, said.

Nagle said Monday's test was the first of a series of "planetary protection missions".

"We want to have a better chance than the dinosaurs had 65m years ago," Nagle said, referring to the theory that the prehistoric reptiles which once ruled Earth went extinct when an asteroid struck the planet.

Nagle added: "All they could do is look up and go, 'Oh asteroid.'"

While no known asteroid larger than 459ft (140 meters) in size has a significant chance of hitting Earth for the next century, it's estimated that only 40% of those asteroids have been identified so far.

The $325m planetary defense test was the culmination of a journey that began with Dart's launch last fall. The opportunity for online earthlings to watch the collision with Dimorphos live, or at least on a few minutes' delay, came from what Nasa calls the mission's own "mini-photographer", the LiciaCube (short for Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging Asteroids).

Mission managers expressed their "absolute joy" at watching the successful impact take place in real time.

Ralph Semmel, director of the Johns Hopkins applied physics laboratory, hailed the "game-changing" nature of what had just been achieved, adding that his team knew they had been successful when the video blacked out. "Normally, losing signal from a spacecraft is a very bad thing. But in this case, it was the ideal outcome."
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting

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Nasa successfully crashes spacecraft into asteroid in planetary defense test

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Bid to change asteroid's course marks 'new era of humankind' as agency seeks to protect Earth from future disaster