レアジョブ英会話 Daily News Article Podcast

Smoke from wildfires—which are burning more of the Northern Hemisphere as Earth warms—attacks nearly every system in the human body, killing tens of thousands of people a year, numerous medical studies show.

It attacks the body immediately, spiking asthma cases with increased ambulance runs within hours, swamps emergency rooms in a day or so with people suffering from heart attacks and other cardiovascular and lung issues, as well as mental health issues, doctors and scientists told The Associated Press.

Smoke also harms pregnant women, increasing the risk of premature births and low-weight babies who could have breathing problems the rest of their lives, doctors and studies said. And then there are long-term risks connecting prolonged smoke and other air pollution exposure to some cancers and dementia.

After huge global fires in 2018 and 2019, the medical and science communities started looking at the health effects from the burning trees with more and more studies coming out finding that there’s all types of impacts that may not have been so obvious before,” said Harvard School of Public Health environmental health scientist Dr. Mary Johnson.

Smoke causes inflammation by triggering the body's immune system to go into overtime to fight the irritant. Scientists have found it can harm the brain and skin, with almost no system of the body spared, Johnson said. People over 60 become more prone to stroke in wildfire smoke, she said.

“Wildfire smoke is the toxic product of combustion of whatever burned,” which could include houses and cars, said Dr. Courtney Howard, an emergency room physician, chair of the Global Climate and Health Alliance and president-elect of the Canadian Medical Association.

“So really it's a big giant toxic soup of particles and gases.”

Scientists have counted at least 1,000 toxins in wildfire smoke, said Colorado State University environmental toxicologist Luke Montrose.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Drops for computer chipmakers and other winners of the artificial-intelligence boom dragged down stock markets worldwide.

The SP 500 fell 0.5%, even though more stocks rose within the index than fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 105 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite sank 1.5%.

Nearly three out of every four stocks rose within the SP 500 after more of the country's biggest companies reported better earnings for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Abbott jumped 10.7% after the healthcare company delivered a fatter profit than expected and raised its forecast for earnings over the full year. J.B. Hunt Transport Services climbed 8% after the freight company likewise topped analysts' expectations for the latest quarter.

But a 1% move for Nvidia's stock packs more of a punch on the SP 500 than a 1% move for any other company because it's the largest on Wall Street by value.

And Nvidia fell 2.4%, making it the heaviest weight on the index. Other AI winners also sank, giving back some of their stellar gains.

Micron Technology fell 5.6% to shave its gain for the year so far below 199%. SanDisk fell 12.6% but is nevertheless up 494% for the year so far. Western Digital sank 9.2% but is still up 171% for the year so far.

Such stocks have been under pressure for weeks because of worries that their prices shot too high and that voracious demand for computer memory and processors may not be sustainable if AI ends up not producing as much profit and productivity as promised.

The losses came even though Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., a bellwether of the chip industry, reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its stock in Taiwan rose 1.2%, but its stock that trades in the United States fell 2.3%.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

The European Union (EU) issued two new rules for Google to force it to share search data and open up its Android operating system to rival AI companies.

In the latest attempt to rein in the tech behemoths’ deep control of the digital economy, the EU said it will support innovation and diversity in the field by enabling fair access to AI features on Android devices and search engines.

“Thanks to these measures, we hope to see emerging alternatives to Google Search and Google’s AI services, such as Gemini, and that users in the EU can enjoy greater choice of services,” Henna Virkkunen, an executive vice president at the European Commission overseeing tech, said.

The measure is the latest advancement of Brussels’ growing rules and regulations that have given the 27-nation bloc a global leadership position in checking the power of tech juggernauts or “gatekeepers” like TikTok, which are largely based in China and the U.S.

Recently, Brussels has pushed through efforts to ensure Google gives access to Gemini AI services to rival AI companies and search engines; forced Apple to add interoperability features to its devices to connect to non-Apple products; and demanded that Meta dismantle “key addictive features” like infinite scrolling.

Kent Walker, president of global affairs for both Google and its parent company Alphabet, said the new rules could backfire by removing safeguards that the company had built to protect user privacy, like the vetting of third-party AI assistants.

“Europeans’ private searches would be exposed to unfamiliar companies, without adequate anonymization of the data and without user knowledge or consent. This would weaken citizens’ privacy, risk business trade secrets, and endanger national security,” he said in a statement.

U.S. President Donald Trump has lashed out at EU tech regulation in the past.

In issuing the two new rules, the commission said it found that AI agents not made by Google were unable to function on Android phones at the same level as Google's Gemini.

Google must now allow voice activation of these alternative AI agents and enable them to run background tasks like booking restaurants via third-party apps.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

It might seem like a minor inconvenience, but swooping seagulls are a familiar frustration for anyone trying to enjoy a meal by Sydney Harbour. Now, working farm dogs best known for herding sheep are being trained to use those same instincts to keep hungry seagulls at bay.

At the request of Sydney's Opera Bar, dog trainer James Webb developed a specialized program that teaches working dogs to deter seagulls. “It's really become like a science, how we do it,” says Webb of the Seagull Patrol.

The program is harnessing the dogs’ natural herding instincts. “The reward is getting to chase the seagulls, so we get dogs that just love doing it, and then we work backwards with training from there,” explains Webb.

The dogs are trained to anticipate the birds' movements, making them an effective and humane way to discourage unwanted visitors.

“If we keep doing the same thing, the seagulls will just watch us walk up and down and they'll help themselves to food when the dogs not there, so we have to be a bit sneaky, so we get the dogs to creep up, we might get them to bark at them or appear when they're not expecting it and just keep the seagulls on their toes,” says Webb.

The program has expanded to as many as five locations, including Melbourne's Federation Square, and the dogs have also been brought in at the new Sydney Fish Market.

“There was skepticism about whether they would be successful or a gimmick. Since we've had the dogs, the feedback from everybody is tremendous,” says Tanya Lambert of the Sydney Fish Market.

There are now 35 dogs trained for the role, with each working no more than a single four-hour shift each week. Known collectively as the Seagull Patrol, they're working dogs on duty but ordinary family pets once they head home with their owners.

Customers have welcomed the initiative, praising the seagull-free dining experience. “Fantastic job, I haven't got any sign of seagull on me, haven't seen one since I've been here,” says Peter, a restaurant patron.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

A group of 26 Meta employees has sued the company, claiming it used artificial intelligence systems to select people for layoffs, disproportionately targeting those on medical, parental, or family leave.

They are among the 8,000 employees, or about 10% of its workforce, Meta said it would lay off in May. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Oakland, California, claims the company used internal AI systems, keystroke and activity-monitoring data, AI token-usage dashboards, and algorithmically assisted performance rankings, among other methods, to determine who would be laid off.

Many of these scores and ratings “by design, cannot be accumulated by an employee who is on protected medical or family leave, or whose output is reduced by a disability,” the lawsuit says. Meta, according to the lawsuit, did not account for protected leave when taking employees' scores into account and “did not pause the system for the individualized, leave- and accommodation-neutral review that the law requires.”

As a result, people on protected medical or family leave were disproportionately selected for layoffs, the lawsuit says. Each of the 26 anonymous employees in the lawsuit took protected leave, or requested or received a reasonable accommodation for disability. Though they have been notified of their layoffs, all 26 remain employed by Meta, with separations that began on July 22.

Many of the employees in the lawsuit took pregnancy or parental leave, during which time they wouldn't have worked and thus had their measured output reduced. Others took medical leave—one disclosed a “serious health condition and disability” that was approved by Meta's own provider. But according to the lawsuit, he was “discouraged and deterred from taking that leave by a manager” who warned that doing so would result in his selection for the anticipated layoffs. Meta offered no accommodation for his disability, the lawsuit says.

Meta said in a statement that the claims lack merit and are not based on facts. Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Japanese communications company Fujitsu is leading a major push in artificial intelligence using Nvidia's technology, bringing together what it said was the best in Japan's manufacturing prowess in robotics with AI.

The technology area known as physical AI refers to smart, futuristic robots that can think on their own, not just follow programmed directions, to work safely alongside people in factories, homes, and hospitals.

The initiative was announced in Tokyo by Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Jensen Huang and Fujitsu Chief Executive Takahito Tokita, along with the CEOs of Japan's top makers of industrial robots, Fanuc Corp., Yaskawa Electric Corp., and Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

The latest announcement comes on top of a deal announced by Nvidia and Fujitsu last year.

The executives expressed hopes that the robots can address the nation's acute labor shortage. Japan is among the most rapidly aging societies in the developed world, and the smart robots could help take care of the elderly living alone, they said.

Huang said physical AI was a good fit for Japan because of the country's reputation for manufacturing quality, as robots that move independently could potentially be dangerous. Japan's excellence is a philosophy, a way of life. 'Made in Japan' means the highest quality, the highest precision. Japan sets the standard for the state of the art in modern manufacturing, he said.

Huang listed Japan's prized concepts in fine manufacturing such as kaizen, which means continuous improvement.

The companies did not give a specific time frame for the arrival of such robots in daily life. They stressed efforts were underway, with what they called the first phase of the collaboration coming later this year.

There has been no decision on setting up a joint venture, although that could come later, they said.

Japan has acknowledged it has fallen behind some nations, including China and the U.S., in AI, and has been eager to play catch-up.

The government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi recently announced a plan to drum up more than 370 trillion yen ($2.3 trillion) in public and private investment in various technology fields by 2040, including physical AI, semiconductors, and data centers.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Dawn and Cassius Spears would like to expand their southwest Rhode Island farm’s reach beyond their farm stand, but it’s challenging. Like many small food producers, the Spears have sought financial assistance through federal programs.

Some of these programs have been cut or significantly scaled back under the Trump Administration, including U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs that helped Indigenous farmers like the Spears.

Tribes have used these programs to distribute culturally significant foods produced locally. Some legislators are working to reinstate programs as part of the Farm Bill that would help state and tribal governments purchase local food.

The Biden administration started two programs during the pandemic to help states and tribes purchase local food from nearby farmers for food banks and schools: the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS).

These programs offered farmers, including tribal farmers, reliable markets for their products. Tribal governments received assistance to purchase food from local producers to distribute to tribal members.

In March 2025, under the Trump administration, the Agriculture Department ended the two programs that provided more than $1 billion for schools and food banks, saying that they no longer aligned with the agency's goals.

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, and Sen. Jim Justice, a West Virginia Republican, introduced a bill they say takes the best from the two programs and creates a permanent grant program. It would allow state and tribal governments to buy local foods from local and regional producers to distribute to nearby hunger relief programs and schools.

Reed said he feared that when the USDA programs were cut, families across the country would have a more difficult time getting access to food. And, he said, the access wouldn't be to nutritious, freshly grown produce.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

AI has been dominating news headlines in recent years as people digest what the developments of large language models will mean for our future.

A summit in Geneva is considering how the power of AI can be harnessed for good. The “AI for Good” summit follows a meeting of 193 nations to discuss the first UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance.

Fred Werner, Head of Strategic Engagement at the International Telecommunication Union, has watched as AI tech progressed at breakneck speed.

“We created AI for Good in 2017, and if you think about it, that's an eternity in terms of AI years, right, because AI is moving so fast,” he explains. “Back then, it was all about the fear, the hype, and the promise of AI. The use cases were there, but the technology wasn't really there. But what we see now... is the rise of AI agents. I think we're now entering what I would call a zero-click world, where AI agents are not waiting for our prompts, but they're actually acting on our behalf, autonomously. And then looking at the more physical manifestation of AI, in the form of advanced robotics, autonomous mobility, brain-computer interfaces, and even space computing.”

Ability Neurotech has been developing its brain-computer interface for over eight years.

Its implant sits on the brain, reading neural signals still intact in patients who've lost the ability to speak or move. It then sends that data, through the skin, to a processor decoding it in real time.

Rotem Kopel, the company's CEO, explains what the device is built to do. She says, “We give back people capacities and functionality that they've lost. So, for patients like ALS, stroke, spinal cord injuries, they lose the capacity to communicate, to speak, or to move,” she details. With the brain implants, we implant it in the brain, we record brain functions that are completely intact. We extract this information out, and with really unique AI capacities we can reconstruct what they were intending to do.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

South Korea began enforcing a law that allows steep punitive damages against news outlets and social media influencers for spreading false information, as journalist groups warned it could chill public discourse and invite censorship.

Journalists and civil liberties groups say the vaguely worded law fails to clearly define what information it prohibits and lacks adequate safeguards for the media, warning it could potentially discourage critical reporting about government officials, politicians, and large businesses.

The law allows courts to award damages of up to five times the proven losses against news organizations and large social media channels, including YouTube creators, that circulate illegal, false, or manipulated information to cause harm or generate profit.

In addition, those who distribute information more than twice after a court has confirmed it to be false or manipulated could be fined up to 1 billion won ($656,000) by the country’s media regulator. Internet companies operating large social media platforms with more than 1 million daily users are required to take measures such as removing content or suspending user accounts when they receive reports of false or fabricated information.

The law was backed by President Lee Jae Myung’s liberal Democratic Party and passed by the National Assembly in December over a boycott by the conservative opposition. The liberals, who unsuccessfully sought to pass similar legislation under previous governments, say the law is necessary to combat fake news and disinformation, which they argue is posing a growing threat to democracy by fueling division and hate speech.

The Journalists Association of Korea said the mere prospect of news organizations repeatedly facing massive damage claims or legal disputes could have an “unavoidable chilling effect.”

“Even if a law’s objective is legitimate, it could erode the foundations of democracy if it’s enforced in a way that discourages the media and ordinary citizens from freely criticizing and scrutinizing those in power,” the group said in a statement.

The Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club also expressed concern about the potential impact on the work of the media and the free flow of information.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

The European Union accused Meta of breaching its social media law by designing Facebook and Instagram to get users hooked and demanded it disable “key addictive features” like infinite scrolling.

The E.U.'s executive arm issued a fresh set of charges against Meta Platforms as part of its investigation under the 27-nation bloc's strict digital rule book known as the Digital Services Act. The sweeping set of regulations from Brussels requires tech platforms to protect internet users under threat of hefty fines.

The European Commission said Meta failed to properly assess the risks its design features pose to the physical and mental health of users, including minors. And while the company has tools and controls to help manage Facebook and Instagram use, it said they were easily overridden, dismissed, or technically challenging to use.

Meta “needs to implement design changes” to Instagram and Facebook, such as disabling “key addictive features” like autoplay of videos and infinite scroll so they’re not turned on by default, the commission said in its preliminary findings.

Meta now has the chance to respond and defend itself before the commission issues its final decision, which could result in a fine worth up to 6% of the company’s global annual revenue.

Meta said that the preliminary findings do not recognize the steps that the company has already taken to protect teens.

“Since this investigation began, we rolled out Teen Accounts that automatically protect teens and put parents in control—allowing them to block access to Instagram at night and cap daily screen time at just 15 minutes,” Meta said in a prepared statement. We share the European Commission’s commitment to providing teens with safe, positive online experiences and will continue to engage constructively with them.”

Europe is committed to enforcing its legislation that holds platforms accountable for addictive design features, said Henna Virkkunen, an executive vice-president at the commission overseeing tech.

“Protecting the physical and mental health of Europeans must be a priority for social media platforms,” Virkkunen said in a written statement.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.