レアジョブ英会話 Daily News Article Podcast

Injuries are an inevitable part of the NFL with all the high-speed collisions, crushing hits, and high exertion necessary on every play. Success each season often comes down to which teams can be the healthiest at the end, and a string of injuries has already hampered preseason contenders like Baltimore, San Francisco, and Cincinnati.

With teams investing hundreds of millions of dollars every season into their rosters, keeping those players available to play is crucial, and any small edge has the potential to lead to better results on the field. To help achieve that, the NFL has turned to technology in recent years, partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS) on an injury prediction tool that uses data and artificial intelligence to help teams manage the health of their players.

Fans want their favorite players on the field. The team owners certainly want those players on the field. The athletes themselves want to be on the field, said Julie Souza, the global head of sports at AWS. Anything we can do to improve that and keep players healthy, that's sort of a noble endeavor.

The Digital Athlete tool takes video and data from players on all 32 teams from training, practice, and games, giving every team information on how hard its players have worked, whether they are at risk for more injuries, as well as helping them track leaguewide trends and benchmarks.

Digital Athlete uses sensors in the shoulder pads, cameras, and optical tracking to gather information from practice and games for every player on all 32 teams, similar to what NextGen stats does to determine who's the fastest ball carrier or how much separation a receiver generates on his pass routes.

Teams have used it to help determine practice schedules for training camp, how hard they work the players in a given week of a season, and what players or position groups have been pushed so hard that dialing back their work might prevent nagging soft-tissue injuries.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Nestlé is cutting 16,000 jobs globally as the Swiss food giant cuts costs as part of its efforts to revive its financial performance.

Nestlé, which makes Nescafé, KitKats, pet foods, and many other well-known consumer brands, said that the job cuts will take place over the next two years. The Swiss company also said that it is raising targeted cost cuts to 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.76 billion) by the end of next year, up from a planned 2.5 billion Swiss francs ($3.13 billion).

It has been a turbulent year for the company based in Vevey, Switzerland. In September, Nestlé dismissed CEO Laurent Freixe after an investigation into an undisclosed relationship with a subordinate. Freixe had only been on the job for a year. He was replaced by Philipp Navratil, a longtime Nestlé executive.

Nestlé is also fighting a host of external headwinds like other food makers, including rising commodity costs and U.S.-imposed tariffs. The company announced price hikes over the summer to offset higher coffee and cocoa costs.

President Donald Trump has implemented a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods like coffee and orange juice. The Trump administration imposed a 40% tariff on Brazilian products in July, which was on top of a 10% tariff imposed earlier. Coffee habits in the U.S. are almost exclusively fueled by imports. Official U.S. government data shows Brazil, the world’s top coffee producer, supplies about 30% of the American market, followed by Colombia at roughly 20% and Vietnam at about 10%. Tariff negotiations are ongoing.

The price of cocoa soared to record highs last year after inclement weather in areas where it is grown constrained supply and hit companies like Nestlé hard. While cocoa costs began to fall in 2025 as supply increased, cocoa is vastly more expensive than it was just two years ago.

Nestlé said that it will eliminate 12,000 white-collar positions in multiple locations. The job cuts are expected to achieve annual savings of 1 billion Swiss francs ($1.25 billion) by the end of next year. The company will cut 4,000 jobs as part of ongoing productivity initiatives in its manufacturing and supply chain.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Dozens of reporters turned in access badges and exited the Pentagon rather than agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work, pushing journalists who cover the American military further from the seat of its power. The nation's leadership called the new rules “common sense” to help regulate a “very disruptive” press.

News outlets were nearly unanimous in rejecting new rules imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that would leave journalists vulnerable to expulsion if they sought to report on information—classified or otherwise—that had not been approved by Hegseth for release.

Many of the reporters waited to leave together at a 4 p.m. deadline set by the Defense Department to get out of the building. As the hour approached, boxes of documents lined a Pentagon corridor, and reporters carried chairs, a copying machine, books, and old photos to the parking lot from suddenly abandoned workspaces. Shortly after 4, about 40 to 50 journalists left together after handing in their badges.

“It’s sad, but I’m also really proud of the press corps that we stuck together,” said Nancy Youssef, a reporter for The Atlantic who has had a desk at the Pentagon since 2007. She took a map of the Middle East out to her car.

It is unclear what practical impact the new rules will have, though news organizations vowed they’d continue robust coverage of the military no matter the vantage point.

Images of reporters effectively demonstrating against barriers to their work are unlikely to move supporters of President Donald Trump, many of whom resent journalists and cheer his efforts to make their jobs harder. Trump has been involved in court fights against The New York Times, CBS News, ABC News, The Wall Street Journal, and The Associated Press in the past year.

Several reporters posted on social media when they turned in their press badges.

“It’s such a tiny thing, but I was really proud to see my picture up on the wall of Pentagon correspondents,” wrote Heather Mongilio, a reporter for USNI News, which covers the Navy. “Today, I’ll hand in my badge. The reporting will continue.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Restoring France's priceless artifacts is delicate and painstaking work, but now experts at the Louvre in Paris are using the same lasers used by top dermatologists to rejuvenate skin. Conservators at the world-famous museum say the lasers are now an essential tool, and they're giving us a rare look inside their laboratories.

The restoration is carried out by experts at the Centre for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France (C2RMF). Cleaning sculptures takes months, but it would have taken much longer if the technicians did not have access to the latest laser technology. They are the same advanced lasers that are used on human skin in cosmetic procedures, and they've been funded by the French cosmetics giant L’Oréal.

Delphine Kerob, dermatologist and Scientific Director of La Roche-Posay at L’Oréal, says lasers such as the Infinito and Erbium lasers being used by the technician here are the same ones used for delicate skincare.

Curator Laetitia Barragué-Zouita says there is a fine balance between deep cleaning and conserving as much as possible of the artifacts. She says, “For us, it is extremely important because in the sculpture field, many pieces we have to restore were displayed outdoors and have black crust or thick grime on the surface. And sometimes, the limestone is more fragile than the black crusts. And we have to find a way to clean them up without damaging the original material. And a laser, which has only thermal and mechanical action, helps us not to damage the original surface. So it's a lifesaver, in fact, for us.”

Barragué-Zouita says the technology has helped them get through painstaking and delicate work far quicker than they would with other methods.

She says the technology “helps us to operate on a wider range of materials. But also to work faster because, particularly with the Infinito laser, it is more powerful. It is very helpful when we have thick black crust or grime, and it helps the workshop to be more efficient for the museums.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

California will phase out certain ultraprocessed foods from school meals over the next decade under a first-in-the-nation law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The law seeks to define ultraprocessed foods, the often super-tasty products typically full of sugar, salt and unhealthy fats. The legislation requires the state’s Department of Public Health to adopt rules by mid-2028 defining “ultraprocessed foods of concern” and “restricted school foods.”

Schools have to start phasing out those foods by July 2029, and districts will be barred from selling them for breakfast or lunch by July 2035. Vendors will be banned from providing the “foods of concern” to schools by 2032.

Newsom signed the measure at a local middle school in Los Angeles.

Newsom issued an executive order earlier this year requiring the Department of Public Health to provide recommendations by April on limiting harms from ultraprocessed foods. The Democratic governor signed a law in 2023 banning certain synthetic food dyes from school meals.

Legislatures across the country have introduced more than 100 bills in recent months seeking to ban or require labeling of chemicals that make up many ultraprocessed foods, including artificial dyes and controversial additives.

Americans get more than half their calories from ultraprocessed foods, which have been linked to a host of health problems, including obesity, diabetes and heart disease. However, studies haven’t been able to prove that the foods directly cause those chronic health problems.

Some school districts in California are already phasing out foods the law seeks to ban. Michael Jochner spent years working as a chef before taking over as director of student nutrition at the Morgan Hill Unified School District about eight years ago. He fully supports the ban.

Now they don’t serve any ultraprocessed foods, and all their items are organic and sourced within about 50 miles (80 kilometers) of the district, Jochner said. They removed sugary cereals, fruit juices and flavored milks, and deep-fried foods such as chicken nuggets and tater tots from their menus, he said.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

North America’s last wooden hockey stick factory is facing uncertainty as shifting US tariffs and global competition squeeze production. The operation has roots going back more than a century and continues to make traditional sticks, even as the industry has largely moved overseas and embraced new composite materials.

The factory in Ontario is the only remaining large-scale producer of these sticks in North America, an industry that once thrived in Canada and the United States. Today, it turns out about 400,000 sticks a year, but rising costs, shrinking demand, and trade disputes are putting pressure on production.

US tariffs on Canadian exports have led to delays and unexpected duties at the border, adding to wider uncertainty. Managers say the challenge is keeping prices fair for players while covering the costs of trade barriers.

General manager Bo Crawford says, Like we see here in the news every day from our prime minister and our premiers that you never know, we just have to roll with it and the president of the US can change his mind day to day, week to week, hour to hour, so yeah, we have to deal with it the best we can and continue doing business and try to take care of our customers the best we can without raising the cost too much. Because the more they sell, the more we sell. So we got to work together and just get through it all as a team, basically.

The United States has repeatedly signaled tariffs on Canadian exports as part of President Donald Trump’s protectionist trade agenda. The stated goal is to encourage more manufacturing in the United States, but for Canadian businesses, it has introduced added costs and uncertainty in cross-border trade.

The company estimates around a quarter of its sticks are sold in the United States, including custom orders for professional teams.

Tariffs act as a tax on imported goods, and when shipments are flagged at the border, the added cost is passed directly into the final price. For US buyers, that can mean a sudden increase of as much as 30 percent on an order.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Britain’s antitrust watchdog labeled Google a “strategic” player in the online search advertising market, paving the way for regulators to force the company to change its business practices to ensure more competition in that market.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said its investigation found that the U.S. tech giant has “strategic market status” because it has “substantial and entrenched market power” in general search and search advertising.

It marks the first time the watchdog has issued the designation since the new U.K. digital rules took effect at the start of the year.

The label doesn't imply any wrongdoing. But the regulator said it means it has the power to consider using “proportionate, targeted measures to make sure “general search services are open to effective competition” and that consumers and businesses are treated fairly.

Online search ads appear alongside results from Google's search engine, usually tagged as “Ad” or “Sponsored—versus online display ads, which appear on a company's website. The CMA says Google accounts for more than 90% of the U.K.'s online searches, and more than 200,000 of the country's businesses rely on Google search ads to reach customers. Google said it expects to face new rules and regulations on how its search service works.

The CMA didn’t announce any immediate fixes, saying it plans to begin discussions later this year.

The watchdog has previously outlined possible remedies, including giving users “choice screens” for rival search services when they use products like the Chrome browser and Android mobile operating system. Another proposal is forcing Google to make search results ranking and presentation fair and non-discriminatory, and give businesses an effective way to complain if they’ve been treated unfairly.

“Many of the ideas for interventions that have been raised in this process would inhibit UK innovation and growth, potentially slowing product launches at a time of profound AI-based innovation,” Google's senior director for competition, Oliver Bethell, said in a blog post. “Others pose direct harm to businesses, with some warning that they may be forced to raise prices for customers.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Federal regulators have opened yet another investigation into Tesla's self-driving feature after dozens of incidents in which the cars ran red lights or drove on the wrong side of the road, sometimes crashing into other vehicles and causing injuries.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a filing that it is looking into 58 incidents in which Teslas reportedly violated traffic safety laws while using the company's so-called Full Self-Driving (FSD) mode, leading to more than a dozen crashes and fires and nearly two dozen injuries. The new probe adds to several other open investigations into Tesla technology that could upend Elon Musk's plans to turn millions of his cars already on the road into completely driverless vehicles with an over-the-air update to their software.

The ultimate question is, 'Does the software work?' asked Seth Goldstein, a Morningstar analyst with a sell rating on the stock. Added money manager Ross Gerber, The world has become a giant testing ground for Elon's concept of full self-driving, and it's not working.

The probe comes as Musk, whose fortune as the world's richest man derives partly from Tesla's levitating stock, has promised to roll out hundreds of thousands of driverless taxis in cities around the U.S. by the end of next year.

The new investigation covers 2.9 million vehicles, essentially all Teslas equipped with full self-driving technology, or FSD, a misnomer criticized for lulling drivers into handing full control over to their cars. Tesla has argued to regulators and in court cases that it has repeatedly told drivers the system cannot drive the cars by itself and whoever is behind the wheel must be ready to intervene at all times.

In the new probe, regulators reported that many of the Tesla drivers involved in accidents said the cars gave them no warning about the unexpected behavior.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Among the whimpering of rescued dogs, a soft whistle cuts through. It’s Feven Melese, a young woman hoping to support thousands of abandoned dogs on the streets of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

The 29-year-old music degree graduate has put up a rare shelter on the outskirts of the city, where she provides food and a place to stay for 40 dogs, while feeding about 700 others every week on the streets.

Melese said she has found new homes for more than 300 dogs in the past two years. Together with fellow young animal rights activists, they are on a mission to change the widespread perception in Ethiopia that dogs are protectors working for humans, not pets to be cared for.

As skyscrapers rise in Addis Ababa, the estimated 200,000 unclaimed dogs roaming the streets have fewer places to hide. Many dog owners have abandoned them as they move into new residential apartments whose landlords enforce a no-pet policy.

Authorities have expressed concern about the spread of diseases like rabies, and in recent months, they have faced criticism after poisoning thousands of stray dogs ahead of major events, following an incident in which a resident was bitten.

Melese said many in Ethiopia do not treat dogs with care and abandon them when they become inconvenient.

“In Ethiopia, the society does not understand. They say, are they (dogs) hungry? Do they have feelings? They don’t care if they eat or not. If they are sick, they don’t care,” she said.

Melese’s shelter, though small and makeshift, is also a haven for dogs that survived road accidents. One of them, Konjit—whose name means “beautiful” in Amharic—wears a neck brace to help support healing, and wags her tail as Melese cuddles her.

Some residents in Addis Ababa say they are worried about the dangers posed by stray dogs and that the animals should be taken to a shelter.

The Addis Ababa city administration official, Melese Anshebo, told The Associated Press that the government was planning to begin a dog registration and vaccination exercise to ensure that dog owners are fully responsible.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Thirty paintings created by the bushy-haired, soft-spoken Bob Ross will soon be up for auction to defray the costs of programming for public television stations suffering from cuts in federal funding.

Ross, a public television stalwart in the 1980s and '90s, “dedicated his life to making art accessible to everyone,” said Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc. “This auction ensures his legacy continues to support the very medium that brought his joy and creativity into American homes for decades.”

Bonhams in Los Angeles will auction three of Ross's paintings on November 11. Other auctions will follow in London, New York, Boston, and online. All profits are pledged to stations that use content from distributor American Public Television.

The idea is to help stations in need with licensing fees that allow them to show popular programs that include “The Best of Joy of Painting,” based on Ross's show, “America's Test Kitchen,” “Julia Child's French Chef Classics,” and “This Old House.” Small and rural stations are particularly challenged.

As desired by President Donald Trump, Congress has eliminated $1.1 billion allocated to public broadcasting, leaving about 330 PBS and 246 NPR stations to find alternative funding sources. Many launched emergency fund drives. Some have been forced to lay off staff and make programming cuts.

The beloved Ross died in 1995 of complications from cancer after 11 years in production with “The Joy of Painting.” His how-to program was shown on stations around the U.S. and around the world. The former Air Force drill sergeant known for his calm demeanor and encouraging words enjoyed a resurgence in popularity during the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ross spoke often as he worked on air about painting happy little clouds and trees, and making no mistakes, only “happy accidents.”

The thirty paintings to be auctioned span Ross’s career and include landscapes depicting serene mountain vistas and lake scenes, his signature aesthetic. He created most of the 30 on-air, each in under 30 minutes, which was the span of a single episode.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.