レアジョブ英会話 Daily News Article Podcast

New GoFundMe tools make it easier to circulate causes across online platforms in a push to cater to younger generations.

The crowdfunding site hopes to meet digital natives in the online spaces where they frequently advocate, streamlining the donation experience to encourage more charity and connecting traditional nonprofits with a demographic that prefers direct contributions over institutional giving. Among the features rolling out this fall are fundraising widgets for video game streamers, personalized profiles to highlight users’ philanthropic interests, and an integrated button on Instagram to donate.

The products reflect the for-profit company’s internal recognition that Gen Z’s habits make social media an untapped source to drive charitable contributions. Gen Z respondents ages 18-26 are much more likely than older people to regularly share causes or fundraisers on their accounts, according to a survey led this summer by GoFundMe. Half reported doing so at least once a week and 41% said social media content compelled them to research or support a cause.

The moves also signal the continuation of GoFundMe’s attempts to better serve nonprofit partners in addition to everyday organizers.

Nonprofits can nurture donor relationships further by identifying data on contributors who give through Instagram, according to a company spokesperson.

The company also built out user profiles. Starting November 13, individuals and organizations can personalize their own accounts with more details about their giving.

If LinkedIn is the site where users highlight their professional side, GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan said he wants GoFundMe Profiles to be the site where people show “this is me as a person that does good in the world.”

“We hope that over time that becomes the place on the internet that you express your altruistic side of your identity, he said.

Youth-facing organizations must follow young people to the platforms where they find community, according to Fast Forward Executive Director Shannon Farley.

“Social media is where young people and young donors live,” Farley said. “If you’re not going to the places where people are every day, you’re missing out on a whole group of people who could be backing your cause.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

The Indian government plans a new law to punish those making hoax bomb threats against flights, which disrupt the schedules of airlines and cause massive inconvenience to thousands of passengers.

In less than two weeks, more than 120 flights operated by Indian carriers have received bomb threats, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu said that the government is planning to introduce legislation that would put offenders on a no-fly list and amend the 1982 Civil Aviation Act so that they can be arrested and investigated without a court order.

IndiGo, a private Indian airline, said nine of its flights destined for Jeddah and Dammam in Saudi Arabia and some flights from Turkey had received such hoax calls. The flights were diverted to the nearest airports for security checks.

We worked closely with the relevant authorities and followed standard operating procedures,” the airline said in a statement.

The hoaxers have largely gone untraced so far. The Mumbai police said they detained a 17-year-old boy from eastern Chhattisgarh state for allegedly posting bomb threat messages on the social media of various airlines.

Police officer Maneesh Kalwaniya said the boy's motive was to implicate another person involved in a business dispute with him.

The Press Trust of India said 30 domestic and international flights operated by Indian airlines, including IndiGo, Vistara, and Air India, received bomb threats in just one night.

Even though bomb threats are hoaxes, things cannot be taken non-seriously,” Rammohan said.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Hotel Yugoslavia was once the top place to stay for celebrities and dignitaries visiting Belgrade. Now, it’s fallen into disrepair, but a plan to replace it with a modern hotel is causing controversy.

The hotel in the Serbian capital was a favorite gathering place for local officials and world leaders, but has fallen into disrepair since the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Built in the 1960s, the modernist structure has lost its former luster. Its facade is marred by crumbling concrete and graffiti. Inside, debris covers once-pristine floors. Faded velvet sofas, torn mattresses, and broken windows are all that remain of the luxury that once characterized the establishment in its prime.

As Belgrade experiences rapid growth, marked by new high-rise developments, the hotel’s fate has sparked controversy. Some view it as a relic worth preserving. Others see opportunities for redevelopment.

Opened in 1969, Hotel Yugoslavia was a five-star destination. It featured one of the world’s largest chandeliers, made of 40,000 Swarovski crystals and 5,000 bulbs. The hotel hosted international celebrities, including Queen Elizabeth II, US Presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, and astronaut Neil Armstrong.

Private investors have now announced plans for its demolition and redevelopment. The new project will feature two 150-meter (500-foot) towers. These will include a luxury hotel, offices, and private apartments, according to the investors.

Zivorad Vasic, a spokesman for the investors, explained the need for complete demolition. “There are a couple of reasons for it, and that’s very important,” he says. “One is during the bombing in 1999, quite a lot of parts of the hotel were destroyed. Second, the hospitality industry completely and tremendously changed.”

Architect and tour guide Matija Zlatanovic says plans for the new hotel are “controversial.”

Residents living near the planned construction site aren’t happy either and some are joining weekly protests.

“Hotel Yugoslavia represents a huge part of our history,” says protester Svetlana Gojun. “Half the world came to this hotel, from actors, musicians, politicians, writers. Everyone is tied to this hotel. The whole world knows about that hotel. And now we will allow something like that to disappear?”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Schools in Mexico have six months to implement a government-sponsored ban on junk food or face heavy fines, officials said, as authorities confront what they call the worst childhood obesity problem in the world.

The rules, published on Sept. 30, target products that have become staples for two or three generations of Mexican school kids: sugary fruit drinks, chips, artificial pork rinds, and soy-encased, salty peanuts with chili. School administrators who violate the order will face fines equivalent to between $545 and $5,450, which could double for a second offense. That could amount to nearly a year's wages for some.

Mexico's children have the highest consumption of junk food in Latin America and many get 40% of their total caloric intake from it, according to the U.N. children's agency, which has called child obesity there an emergency. Authorities say about one-third of Mexico's children are overweight or obese.

Previous attempts to implement laws against junk food have met with little success.

A survey of over 10,000 schools carried out between 2023 and 2024 found that junk food was available in 98% of them, with sugary drinks in 95% and soft drinks in 79%. Ads for junk food were found in 25% of schools.

New President Claudia Sheinbaum said that schools will have to offer water fountains and alternative snacks, like bean tacos. It is much better to eat a bean taco than a bag of potato chips, Sheinbaum said. It is much better to drink hibiscus flower water than soda.

However, the vast majority of Mexico's 255,000 schools do not have free drinking water available to students. According to a report in 2020, the effort to install drinking fountains succeeded in about 10,900 of the country's schools, or about 4%. Many schools are in areas so poor or remote that they struggle to maintain acceptable bathrooms, internet connection or electricity.

Mexico instituted front-of-package warning labels for foods between 2010 and 2020 to advise consumers about high levels of salt, added sugar, excess calories and saturated fats. Some snack foods carry all four warning labels.

But under the new rules, schools will have to phase out any product containing even a single warning label from their snack stands.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

The last confirmed sighting of a dodo was in the 17th century. But at the Cambridge Museum of Zoology, it is speaking again. These are the skeletal remains of a bird that was extinct by the 1680s—and is one of the first animals humans realized they had driven to extinction.

But now it is chatting away, answering anything and everything in a natural conversation.

Using AI technology, visitors to the museum can talk to the dodo using their smart devices.

It responds to pleasantries, it can explain how it was driven to extinction when sailors arrived at its Mauritius home, and even considers ethical questions like whether it would like to be cloned back into existence by scientists.

Jack Ashby, assistant director of the Museum of Zoology Cambridge, thinks AI provides a new way for visitors to interact with its exhibits.

He says, “Museums generally choose what to tell people, but in this way they can ask whatever they like and that's really, really valuable, I think. They can have an actual conversation with an animal, with a specimen, and I think brings it to life in a really different way than a normal museum exhibit might.”

There are 12 other animal specimens featured in the project, each with its own unique voice.

Jack Ashby says, “When I started working with the Nature Perspectives platform, I was just asking factual questions. But because the animal’s personality comes across really quickly, you end up having an actual conversation where you’re asking more about feelings, you’re asking anything fun. You could ask how its day was or what it had for breakfast. You can have a proper conversation. And I think that it’s a different way of engaging. And it's much more real, I think, than most information we get in museums.”

The AI technology is provided by Nature Perspectives, an international tech-education company founded by Cambridge graduates who studied together on a Master’s of Conservation Leadership program.

The technology is being trialed for a month, and the museum will then analyze the response and the types of conversations it generates.

The Nature Perspectives AI experiment runs from 15 October until 15 November 2024.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

A movement of cultural expression with origins in Mexican American and Chicano communities, lowriding is a way for a person to show their pride, family, and culture.

Lowriding is the customization of a vehicle from the tires to the sound system with vivid designs and colors. Unlike hot rods or muscle cars, which have been modified to have big tires and go fast, in the lowrider community, with little resources, they modified the cars to go “low and slow.”

For Luis Martinez, competing in lowriding bike and car competitions is about more than glory and bragging rights. His participation in lowrider clubs in the Chicago area has been like one big family and a source of mutual support.

“It just starts with the metal,” said Martinez, who got his introduction to lowrider culture when his mother took him to a flea market. He had his first bike when he was 12.

“To me, it’s about expressing my art and what I can do with my own hands,” Martinez told The Associated Press as he polished at his home in Mishawaka, Indiana.

Lauren Pacheco, the co-founder and co-curator of the Slow and Low Chicago Low Rider Festival, described lowriding as a global multibillion-dollar phenomenon of self-expression and innovation.

“The lowriding movement is really a cultural expression,” Pacheco said. “It’s a marvel of mechanical innovation. It is the beautiful artistry in the creative practice of muralism, storytelling, and upholstery.”

It’s a legacy that Sonia Gomez wants for her 8-year-old son, Daniel Marquez. His late father, Alberto Marquez, had been a member of the Chicago area lowrider club. Too young to drive the car left to him by his father, Daniel has a lowriding bike that is more of a memorial to his dad.

The family will do an ofrenda, a display often associated with Mexican Dia de los Muertos celebrations, when local lowriding festivals are held. As part of the ofrenda, Daniel will take an image he has with his father on a lowriding bike and place it next to his actual bike, which he named “Wishing on a Star.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Wimbledon is replacing line judges with electronic line-calling, the latest step into the modern age by the oldest Grand Slam tennis tournament.

The All England Club announced that technology will be used to give the “out” and “fault” calls at the championships in 2025, eliminating the need for human officials to make them.

Wimbledon organizers said the decision to adopt live electronic line-calling was made following extensive testing at the 2024 tournament and “builds on the existing ball-tracking and line-calling technology that has been in place for many years.”

“We consider the technology to be sufficiently robust and the time is right to take this important step in seeking maximum accuracy in our officiating,” said Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Club. “For the players, it will offer them the same conditions they have played under at a number of other events on tour.” 

The move makes the French Open the only Grand Slam tournament without some form of electronic line-calling. The Australian Open and U.S. Open already had eliminated line judges and only have chair umpires on court.

Line judges at Wimbledon were dressed in famously elegant uniforms and, for traditionalists, were part of the furniture at the All England Club.

Bolton said Wimbledon had a responsibility to balance tradition and innovation.

“Line umpires have played a central role in our officiating set-up at the championships for many decades,” she said, “and we recognize their valuable contribution and thank them for their commitment and service.”

Line-calling technology has long been used at Wimbledon and other tennis tournaments to call whether serves are in or out.

At the U.S. Open, there have been no line judges—and only chair umpires—since 2021, with Hawk-Eye Live electronic line-calling used for all courts.

Bolton said the moves have been made to ensure the day of the finals “builds towards the crescendo of the ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles finals, with our champions being crowned in front of the largest possible worldwide audience.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Humanity is hitting the upper limit of life expectancy, according to a new study.

Advances in medical technology and genetic research—not to mention larger numbers of people making it to age 100—are not translating into marked jumps in lifespan overall, according to researchers who found shrinking longevity increases in countries with the longest-living populations.

“We have to recognize there’s a limit” and perhaps reassess assumptions about when people should retire and how much money they’ll need to live out their lives, said S. Jay Olshansky, a University of Illinois-Chicago researcher who was lead author of the study published by the journal Nature Aging.

“We are reaching a plateau” in life expectancy, he agreed. It’s always possible some breakthrough could push survival to greater heights, “but we don’t have that now,” said Mark Hayward, a University of Texas researcher.

Life expectancy is one of the world’s most important health measures, but it is also imperfect: It is a snapshot estimate that cannot account for deadly pandemics, miracle cures, or other unforeseen developments that might kill or save millions of people.

In the new research, Olshansky and his research partners tracked life expectancy estimates for the years 1990 to 2019, drawn from a database administered by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. The researchers focused on eight of the places in the world where people live the longest—Australia, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, and Switzerland.

The study suggests that there’s a limit to how long most people live, and we’ve about hit it, Olshansky said. “We’re squeezing less and less life out of these life-extending technologies. And the reason is, aging gets in the way,” he said.

It may seem common to hear of a person living to 100. In 2019, a little over 2% of Americans made it to 100, compared with about 5% in Japan and 9% in Hong Kong, Olshansky said.

It’s likely that the ranks of centenarians will grow in the decades ahead, experts say, but that’s because of population growth. The percentage of people hitting 100 will remain limited, likely with fewer than 15% of women and 5% of men making it that long in most countries, Olshansky said.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

A group of young Aboriginal women is helping to keep traditional bush medicine alive in Australia. They hope their Bush Balm remedy will also be a reminder of home for kidney patients from their community undergoing dialysis in the city.

Using an ancient rock, Tamara Stewart is crushing leaves in her kitchen. She’s preparing a healing balm called “irmangka”—her late grandmother’s favorite bush medicine.

I used to take bush medicine to my nana, every day after work. Then I lost her at the start of this year, explains Bush Balm team leader Stewart, whose grandmother died of kidney failure.

Stewart describes her work as both therapeutic and symbolic.

Now, making bush medicine is a way for Stewart to honor her grandmother. She was always proud of me and she wanted me to keep going forward in my life, says Stewart.

Indigenous Australians have used their traditional knowledge and plants found in the bush for generations to treat ailments.

According to Stewart, the balm can be used to relieve sore joints and muscles, as well as cold and flu symptoms.

Stewart and two other Aboriginal women work for Bush Balm, a social enterprise that’s part of the not-for-profit organization Purple House which operates 22 dialysis clinics in remote Australia.

Patients have to stay in town while undergoing dialysis, and the bush balm provides Indigenous patients a reminder of home.

It's all of their first jobs and, yes, we have a lot of fun in here, says Bush Balm manager Emma Collard.

The balm produced by the young women is sold online and in a local shop.

The resulting income is used to provide dialysis patients with free balm, to complement their Western medical treatment.

So, it's really grown a lot since we've had this amazing space. So, now we're sending it everywhere, like, we send bush medicine to France, to America, to the UK, interstate, everywhere around Australia and to some really remote locations in the Top End. Yeah, everywhere, says Collard.

Stewart is very proud of being able to continue her grandmother's legacy and pass on traditional knowledge to others.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

The California state Senate passed a measure on October 11 to prevent gas prices from spiking in a state where it is notoriously expensive to fill up at the pump.

The proposal, backed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, would give energy regulators the authority to require that refiners keep a certain amount of fuel on hand. The goal is to try to keep prices from increasing suddenly when refiners go offline for maintenance. Proponents say it would save Californians billions of dollars at the pump.

The bill was inspired by findings from the state’s Division of Petroleum Market Oversight, which demonstrated that gas price spikes are largely caused by increases in global crude oil prices and unplanned refinery outages.

State Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Democrat representing Berkeley, said the proposal is about saving money for consumers. “While global crude prices are not something we can control, a shortage of refined gasoline is something that we can prepare for,” she said.

It has received intense pushback from Republican lawmakers, labor groups, and the oil industry. Some opponents say it could unintentionally raise overall gas prices and threaten the safety of workers by giving the state more oversight over refinery maintenance schedules. They argued delaying necessary maintenance could lead to accidents.

The Western States Petroleum Association criticized Newsom and the Democratic lawmakers supporting the bill, saying it would not benefit consumers.

“If they were serious about affordability, they’d be working with our industry on real solutions,” Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the group’s president, said in a statement. “Instead, they’re forcing a system they don’t understand, and Californians will pay the price.”

Californians pay the highest rates at the pump due to taxes and environmental regulations. The average price for regular unleaded gas in the state is about $4.67 per gallon as of October 11, compared to the national average of $3.21, according to AAA.

Republican state Sen. Brian Dahle said there shouldn’t have been a special session to weigh the proposal, because the bill does not do anything urgent. The proposal fails to address the state taxes and regulations that contribute to higher gas prices, he said.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.