レアジョブ英会話 Daily News Article Podcast

Senators unanimously approved a resolution to withhold their pay during government shutdowns, an attempt to make federal closures financially painful for lawmakers after a string of record-breaking impasses in the past year.

The bipartisan support for the measure comes at a time when federal closures have become longer and more frequent, frustrating lawmakers who say there should be punishment when Congress fails at its most basic legislative duty.

Under the resolution, senators' pay would be withheld by the Secretary of the Senate whenever a government shutdown affects one or more agencies, and then released once funding is restored. It will take effect the day after the November 3 general election and does not apply to the House.

Shutting down government should not be our default solution to our refusal to work out our issues and our differences, said Sen. John Kennedy, the bill's sponsor, in a floor speech. This is about putting our money where our mouth is, said Kennedy.

Two shutdowns in the past year created significant financial hardship for tens of thousands of federal workers, particularly at the Department of Homeland Security. The department reopened last month after a 76-day partial shutdown, the longest agency funding lapse in history.

The Constitution stipulates that lawmakers must be paid, so they have received salaries during shutdowns even as federal workers went without paychecks. When the full government shutdown began in October amid a dispute over health care subsidies, Sen. Lindsey Graham proposed a constitutional amendment to require members to forfeit their paychecks when the government is closed.

If members of Congress had to forfeit their pay during government shutdowns, there would be fewer shutdowns, and they would end quicker, Graham said at the time.

Graham said his legislation was the most constitutionally sound way to deal with the problem, but the process would have been much more laborious, as three-fourths of states must ratify an amendment.

Lawmakers in previous shutdowns have often pledged to forgo their paychecks while federal workers went unpaid. Senators earn an annual salary of $174,000, but many are independently wealthy.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Britain’s traditional fish and chip supper is under pressure from rising fish prices and tighter catch limits, to the knock-on effects of global conflict and higher energy costs. The National Federation of Fish Friers says the number of shops selling fish and chips has fallen from more than 30,000 to around 9,000 in recent years, amid increasing financial strain.

For over a decade, Brockley’s Rock in South East London has been serving customers from its Lewisham shopfront after opening in 2011, building on experience in the trade that dates back to 1989. But what cost £1.65 for haddock and chips when the founder first entered the trade in 1989 and £5.90 when this shop opened in 2011 now costs £15.55 for a typical portion of haddock and chips served with mushy peas.

That increase reflects not just inflation but a sharp hike in costs over recent years, with prices in some cases more than doubling in a short period.

Kyri Karoulla, founder of Brockley’s Rock, says the past few years have brought unprecedented cost pressures. “Since the Ukraine war, as we all know, prices have gone really high, and our gas and electricity have gone through the roof, about 300 percent more than we used to pay before. Obviously, that’s another huge challenge because at the time, everything’s gone up. Normally, we get one of the raw ingredients would go up a little bit, up and down, but on that particular year, everything’s gone up. We’ve never had anything like that before.”

The fish itself has seen some of the steepest increases. The National Federation of Fish Friers says the total allowable catch for cod in the Barents Sea has fallen sharply, from around one million tonnes in 2019 to 285,000 tonnes this year.

That quota system is designed to protect fish stocks, but with fewer fish available, prices have risen.

The reduction follows scientific advice aimed at rebuilding depleted stocks, meaning supply is deliberately restricted to allow recovery, tightening availability across global markets.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Recess isn’t just a fun break for grade schoolers. It’s crucial to good health and good grades for kids of all ages.

That's the message from a leading pediatricians’ group, which just released the first new guidance in 13 years about this unstructured time at school and how it needs to be protected.

The updated policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics comes after years of shrinking recesses and worsening children’s health.

The group has always supported play–free play for kids–but it’s been increasingly threatened over time,” partly by the drive for higher test scores, said Dr. Robert Murray, a lead author. “It has a very powerful benefit if it’s used to the fullest.”

The new guidance, published in the journal Pediatrics, is similar to the previous policy statement but cites the latest research on why these breaks are essential for kids’ academic success and mental, physical, social, and emotional growth.

For example, new evidence shows that kids need pauses between concentrated bouts of learning so the brain can hold and store the information. Researchers also say recess gives kids a chance to navigate relationships and build confidence, which is just as important for older kids as younger ones.

Murray and his colleagues also stressed the importance of physical activity in preventing obesity, a condition that now affects about 1 in 5 U.S. children and teens.

Given these benefits, they recommend that recess be protected and never withheld for academic or punitive reasons, as sometimes happens in schools.

“If the child is disruptive or rude and disrespectful, recess is one of the things that teachers use to punish kids,” Murray said, adding that students struggling with behavioral issues or grades are often the ones who need recess most.

But those students aren’t the only ones losing out. Recess has been waning for all kids. Since the mid-2000s, up to 40% of school districts nationally have reduced or eliminated recess, according to data from the group Springboard to Active Schools in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

A contemporary art fair has been held in the Ukrainian capital with an unusual premise: that art can help a society come to terms with what war has made normal.

“Holding the event during wartime means not waiting for a better moment, but working with reality as it is,” said Anna Avetova, director of the Art Kyiv fair. “In this context, art does not stand apart from life—it helps make sense of the present, preserve cultural continuity, and lay the groundwork for the future.”

Titled This is Normal, the fair has become a space where Ukrainians try to make sense through painting, sculpture, and conversation of a reality in which missile strikes, death, and loss have quietly become a part of ordinary life.

Hundreds of works filled the space at the Lavra Gallery, from oddly shaped sculptures to paintings spanning from expressive abstraction to surreal portraiture and atmospheric landscapes. Notably, not a single booth is dedicated specifically to the war. That was a deliberate choice.

“The war is always in the air; we just really didn’t want to make a point of mentioning it,” Avetova said. “Art is one of the things that keeps us human. It sustains us and warms our souls when things are very hard.”

The organizers said the event was also intended to provide a boost to the domestic art market, which had already stagnated under COVID-19 before the Russian war made things worse. The market is gradually beginning to recover, and the fair is one example of how Ukrainian artists are ready not only to speak about the war, but to sell paintings.

Art Kyiv describes itself as a cultural platform where artistic experience, public discourse, and contemporary Ukrainian reality meet. In a hall occasionally pierced by air-raid sirens warning of Russian strikes, the event has united Ukraine’s most prominent galleries, artists, collectors, and cultural institutions.

It is being held for only the second time since the war began after launching in October.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Over a thousand beehives in Australia's capital, Canberra, have been wiped out by the Varroa mite, according to local biosecurity officers. The parasite has now spread across the territory and is predicted to cut the local bee population by half, but the experts are hopeful the bees will recover.

It’s an alarming trend for local beekeepers. The Varroa mite was first detected in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) last April, and it’s believed to have affected about half of the area’s 6,000 beehives. “It reduces the health of the hive, so they can’t fight off wax moth or hive beetles,” says biosecurity officer Micah Wood.

Around 1,000 hives have been completely destroyed. “We have Varroa across the whole territory. We have had it reported in every major suburb around ACT, in all the corners,” says Wood.

Beekeepers can control the parasite once it enters their hives, but it requires constant attention. One method, known as a Varroa wash, uses methylated spirits to dislodge the mites so they can be counted.

The ACT government’s biosecurity team is urging beekeepers to register so they can receive guidance on protecting their colonies. “If you’re not testing for Varroa, you will lose your hive,” says Wood.

The decline in bee numbers is also expected to impact local crops. “So, your veggie garden and your fruit trees will be probably not be as productive, because there’s less pollinators around,” says Canberra Region Beekeepers’ Mark Paterson.

The Varroa mite is predicted to reach every hive in the territory within 18 months and reduce the bee population by half, though it’s not expected to eliminate them entirely. Just know that in time the bees will emerge from this, stronger and better,” says Paterson. Experts say recovery will take time, but bees are likely to gradually develop resistance to the parasite.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

The Taiwanese town of Fenglin has grown a reputation as a place where life moves slowly, and people can catch their breath. Rather than push against this rhythm, the town of around 10,000 has chosen to embrace it and make it part of its identity. Enter the snails.

Fenglin has been putting on snail races as a way to celebrate its focus on a slower, sustainable lifestyle that values healthcare, longevity, and community connections while bringing in more tourists in the wake of a strong earthquake in 2024 that dampened travel in surrounding areas.

Snails are one way to bring tourists back, even if slowly. Fenglin has associated itself with snails since 2014, when it joined the Cittaslow international network of small cities focused on quality of life and locally sourced foods. Cittaslow's symbol is a snail carrying an assortment of buildings on its back.

The designation of a slow city seemed to fit Fenglin, whose population has shrunk threefold over the past few decades. Today, it is also an example of Taiwan's super-aged society, with more than 20% of its residents older than 65.

To help reinvigorate local tourism, Fenglin residents decided to host a snail race the month following the earthquake, said organizer Cheng Jen-shou. We thought that our event could attract people, and that would be a small help, he said.

This year, the town held the third edition of the race over the May Day holiday. Several dozen enthusiastic residents and tourists attended the event, which featured six snail races spaced out over two days. The winners from each race competed in the final, but not before posing in front of their audiences while slowly being pulled on a piece of plywood across a green carpet as their fans cheered them on.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

When a heat wave hits, millions of air conditioners switch on at once, straining the electric grid and driving up the risk of outages—and residents' power bills. To ease that strain, power companies may ask customers to do something many probably won't: Set the air conditioner a few degrees higher.

Now, a renter-friendly pilot program in New York City is testing a different approach: plug-in batteries that can power air conditioners offline during peak demand, helping take pressure off the grid at its most stressed moments while still keeping residents cool.

It's basically a souped-up version of the power bank that you would use to charge your phone when you go out, said Andrew Wang, the chief executive officer of Every Electric, the company behind the pilot, which has partnered with the city's energy company Con Edison.

The devices, about the size of a microwave, charge when electricity demand is low and then run window AC units for a few hours when demand spikes. It's one of many partners participating in Con Edison's demand response programs, which pay customers to reduce or shift electricity use to support the grid.

The pilot program is expanding to more than 1,000 homes this summer, and participants can get rewarded with cash rebates.

Experts say this initiative reflects the broader shift toward so-called virtual power plants, in which many small, distributed energy resources are coordinated to reduce strain during peak demand. When scaled, solutions like this could have a significant impact on power reliability and affordability.

When electricity demand spikes, utilities often turn to backup power plants that don't run as often, and are typically less efficient and more polluting, said Kevin Brehm, a manager at Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a nonprofit that researches energy systems and the transition to clean power.

Over time, those spikes can push utilities to build more power plants, often fossil-fuel based, to meet demand, with the costs eventually passed down to consumers.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Japanese electronics and entertainment giant Sony Group Corp. reported a 3.4% drop in its annual profit but projected a comeback to record profits for the current fiscal year. Tokyo-based Sony’s net profit for the year through March totaled 1.03 trillion yen ($6.6 billion), down from 1.07 trillion yen in the previous fiscal year.

Ending a plan to release an electric vehicle with Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. hurt its earnings. Rising costs of computer chips also bit into profit and remain a concern, according to Sony, which has film, music, and video game operations.

Sony is forecasting a 1.16 trillion yen ($7.4 billion) profit for this fiscal year, which would be a record for the company and a 13% jump from the year that just ended.

Annual sales at Sony for the fiscal year that just ended rose 3.7% from the previous year to nearly 12.5 trillion yen, boosted by hit films such as the latest in the Demon Slayer series and Kokuho, and by healthy demand for games and network services.

On a quarterly basis, profit at Sony, which is behind the Bravia and PlayStation brands and the “Spider-Man” movies, fell 63% to 83 billion yen ($529 million) from 224 billion yen in the same period a year earlier. Quarterly sales edged up 8% to 3 trillion yen ($19 billion), said the company, whose musical artists include Bad Bunny and SZA.

Sony is counting on healthy sales from its upcoming films, such as Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Jumanji: Open World, to boost its bottom line for the current fiscal year.

Also, Sony said it would spend up to 500 billion yen ($3.2 billion) to buy back up to 230 million shares. Sony stock, which has been trading at about 3,000 yen ($19) lately, gained 1%.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

As global temperatures rise, extreme heat could threaten athletes, fans, workers, and officials during this year’s World Cup games.

Exposure to extreme heat can lead to nausea, dehydration, headaches, stroke, and, in extreme cases, death. Worries from some that millions of people could be exposed during the tournament were amplified in March, when record-breaking temperatures hit large swaths of the U.S. And with global temperatures rising because of pollution from burning oil, gas, and coal, scientists have warned that staging soccer tournaments in the summer is getting more dangerous.

The 2022 World Cup tournament in Qatar was moved from summer to winter because of the threat of extreme heat. Last year's Club World Cup experienced a heat wave that sent temperatures soaring to 90 °F (32 °C) and above in many areas.

Following the event, the soccer players’ global union warned that extreme heat would likely be an even bigger problem at the next two men’s World Cups. The 2030 World Cup will be co-hosted by Spain, Portugal, and Morocco.

This year, host cities, stadiums, and FIFA, the world governing body for soccer, are working to protect players and spectators by conducting heat risk assessments, enhancing shade, cooling zones, and water access, stationing medical teams during events, and more.

Players will get 3-minute hydration breaks midway through each half, regardless of weather conditions, FIFA said. Other welfare plans include allowing teams the usual up to five substitutions, a minimum of three rest days between matches, and staff and substitutes will have access to climate-controlled benches at outdoor matches. Climate conditions are factored into the match schedule.

“Outdoor matches during the hottest parts of the day have been strategically limited, kick-off times adjusted in certain markets, and matches expected in warmer windows prioritized for covered stadiums where possible,” FIFA said.

The federation has also created a Heat Illness Mitigation and Management Task Force made up of medical and operational experts. Ahead of the games, they are finalizing heat-risk alert systems, coordinating stadium medical action plans, and other standardized guidance.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Visually impaired runners are using AI-powered smart glasses as they prepare for the London Marathon. The glasses are not designed specifically for sight loss, but their cameras, microphones, speakers, and AI features are being used to provide spoken information about surroundings during training and daily life.

Running past Buckingham Palace, Tilly Dowler is preparing for a marathon she once thought was out of reach. She has Stargardt disease, which is a genetic condition that causes progressive loss of central vision, and says she now has around 10 percent useful vision remaining.

Dowler only began running in 2025, starting with a couch-to-5K program, before building up distance over the past year. She is now set to run the London Marathon with her boyfriend Ryan, who will act as her guide runner for the race. For her, the goal is not focused on the finishing time.

She says, “My main mission was not to run the marathon in a quick time, to get an amazing PB, to do it for them reasons. My mission was to inspire other people with sight loss, not only sight loss, people with other disabilities, or people going through something that they think is really really hard and really tough, and inspire them to believe in themselves, and you can do anything you put your mind to.”

Dowler is training using Meta Oakley Vanguard smart glasses. The glasses are standard consumer AI glasses, developed by Meta and Oakley for sports use rather than as a specialist assistive device. They include a forward-facing camera positioned in the center of the frame, built-in microphones, a touchpad on the side arm, open ear speakers, and Meta AI voice control.

Meta says its AI glasses can be used hands-free to take photos and videos, make calls, play audio, and ask questions about what the camera is seeing. For blind and partially sighted users, Meta says the glasses can describe surroundings, read text, and identify objects through spoken responses.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.