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Showing posts from March, 2019

Rural Depopulation in Spain

Rural depopulation is number one problem in Spain, according to this BBC Assignment report. This documentary explores the "Caravans of Love" that have succesfully matched couples in rural Spain for several decades; Marta Corella, the mayor of Orea, who tries to create meeting points like the church, the social bar, or the social bakery to promote human contact in villages under 500 people; "neorurales" who move back to the countryside and other initiatives to make villages in Spain more attractive to live. This report has extracts is Spanish and the topic is close to Spanish learners, but there is no script, so it is classified as C2.

U.S. International Transactions, 4th quarter and Year 2018

U.S. International Transactions, 4th quarter and Year 2018 The U.S. current-account deficit increased to $134.4 billion (preliminary) in the fourth quarter of 2018 from $126.6 billion (revised) in the third quarter of 2018. As a percentage of U.S. GDP, the deficit increased to 2.6 percent from 2.5 percent. The previously published current-account deficit for the third quarter was $124.8 billion. Full Text Published March 27, 2019 at 07:00AM

Mueller’s Investigation Erases a Line Drawn After Watergate

By PETER BAKER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2JVRZfZ

Democrats Pivot Hard to Health Care After Trump Moves to Strike Down Affordable Care Act

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and ROBERT PEAR from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2OtPkbD

U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, January 2019

U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, January 2019 The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that the goods and services deficit was $51.1 billion in January, down $8.8 billion from $59.9 billion in December, revised. January exports were $207.3 billion, $1.9 billion more than December exports. January imports were $258.5 billion, $6.8 billion less than December imports. Full Text Published March 27, 2019 at 05:30AM

Educated

Tara Westover started school at the age of 17.  She was brought up on a farm in Idaho, in a survivalist family who stocked food and weapons to defend themselves from the government and to prepare for some kind of war. She had no birth certificate, she never saw a doctor and she was home schooled until she felt she wanted to learn music and was admitted to college at 17.  She finally earned a PhD in History from Cambridge University and she has recently published the book " Educated ", about her personal journey to become an independent woman. This long NPR interview (38':21") can be used by C1 students with the support of the script.

What Happens if Obamacare Is Struck Down?

By REED ABELSON, ABBY GOODNOUGH and ROBERT PEAR from NYT Health https://ift.tt/2JVsDij

House Fails to Override Trump’s Veto, Preserving National Emergency Order

By EMILY COCHRANE from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2JEXkba

Trump and Republicans Seek to Turn the Tables in Post-Mueller Washington

By PETER BAKER and NICHOLAS FANDOS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2V2AR92

Duke University to Pay $112.5 Million to Settle Claims of Research Misconduct

By SHEILA KAPLAN from NYT Science https://ift.tt/2CBlmhm

A God Problem

By PETER ATTERTON from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2TvlhS6

Museums Cut Ties With Sacklers as Outrage Over Opioid Crisis Grows

By ALEX MARSHALL from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/2U7fOoW

New York Suburb Declares Measles Emergency, Barring Unvaccinated Children From Public

By MICHAEL GOLD and TYLER PAGER from NYT New York https://ift.tt/2FBvVCW

Conor McGregor Under Investigation Over Sexual Assault Accusation in Ireland

By TARIQ PANJA from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2WrR73J

First All-Female Spacewalk Canceled Because NASA Doesn’t Have Two Suits That Fit

By JACEY FORTIN and KAREN ZRAICK from NYT Science https://ift.tt/2upmPTw

Colbert Takes Collusion Off ‘List of Reasons Trump Is Unfit to Be President’

By GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/2Wjk9CA

Chicago PD Superintendent Eddie Johnson, Rahm Emanuel call Jussie Smollett charges being dropped 'whitewash of justice'

By  Jessica Sager  | Fox News After  charges were dropped  against "Empire" star  Jussie Smollett  for allegedly staging his own hate crime,  Chicago   Police  Superintendent Eddie Johnson and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel are furious with the outcome, calling it a "whitewash of justice" that cost the city more than $10,000. "Where is the accountability in the system? You cannot have because of a person's position one set of rules applies to them and another set of rules apply to everyone else," Emanuel fumed, relating the ruling to the nationwide college admissions cheating scandal that broke earlier this month. "Our officers did hard work day in and day out, countless hours working to unwind what actually happened that night. The city saw its reputation dragged through the mud ... It's not just the officers' work, but the work of the grand jury that made a decision based on only a sliver of the evidence [presented]," he continued. ...

All Charges Dropped Against ‘Empire’ Actor Jussie Smollett

By SOPAN DEB from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/2HPpvlj

Partly Cloudy today!

With a high of F and a low of 56F.

Congestion Pricing in Manhattan, First Such Plan in U.S., Is Close to Approval

By JESSE McKINLEY and WINNIE HU from NYT New York https://ift.tt/2HHkLPp

BREAKING: Jussie Smollett won't be prosecuted on charges he faked attack

By  Tyler McCarthy  | Fox News Jussie Smollett pleads not guilty to 16 counts of disorderly conduct stemming from alleged hate crime hoax The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office will not be prosecuting  Jussie Smollett , who was previously accused of faking an anti-black, anti-gay hate crime in Chicago in order to drum up publicity for his role on the TV drama “Empire,” Fox News has learned. The judge granted a nolle pros, which essentially means that the case has been dropped and that he will no longer be prosecuted for the alleged crime. It’s unclear at this time why the court decided not to proceed with prosecution, but the former “Empire” star is expected to give a statement after he leaves the courthouse later today. Smollett previously  plead  "not guilty" to 16 counts  of disorderly conduct stemming from the alleged incident in which he claimed two men beat him, poured bleach on him and placed a rope around his neck before yelling, "This is MAGA co...

Pentagon authorizes up to $1B to start 57 miles of border wall construction

By  Edmund DeMarche  | Fox News   Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, center, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, left   tour the US-Mexico border at Santa Teresa Station in Sunland Park, N.M. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) The Pentagon notified Congress late Monday that it authorized the transfer of up to $1 billion to erect 57 miles of "pedestrian fencing" along the  U.S.-Mexico border  in direct support of President Trump's national emergency declaration  from last month. The fencing, which will be 18 feet high, is to be erected in the Yuma and El Paso sectors, the statement read. The Pentagon's announcement was notable. A reporter from the New York Times  tweeted  that it is the first time the funds will be transferred under section 284 for the border wall. Section 284  allows the Pentagon to "construct roads and fences and to install lighting to block drug-smuggling corridors across internationa...

State Quarterly Personal Income, 4th quarter 2018 and State Annual Personal Income, 2018 (preliminary)

State Quarterly Personal Income, 4th quarter 2018 and State Annual Personal Income, 2018 (preliminary) State personal income increased 4.5 percent in 2018, after increasing 4.4 percent in 2017. In 2018, personal income increased in all states and the District of Columbia. The percent change in personal income across all states ranged from 6.8 percent in Washington to 2.9 percent in Hawaii. Full Text Published March 26, 2019 at 05:30AM

We’ve All Just Made Fools of Ourselves — Again

By DAVID BROOKS from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2TzQfIy

In Test of Boeing Jet, Pilots Had 40 Seconds to Fix Error

By JACK NICAS, JAMES GLANZ and DAVID GELLES from NYT Business https://ift.tt/2JEMa6a

Parliament Grabs Control of Brexit From a Wounded Theresa May

By STEPHEN CASTLE from NYT World https://ift.tt/2UUem6r

British Airways Flight to Germany Lands in Scotland by Mistake

By ILIANA MAGRA from NYT World https://ift.tt/2Tyxy86

Michael Avenatti Accused in Nike Extortion Attempt

By MARC TRACY, KEVIN DRAPER and REBECCA R. RUIZ from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2YoY8nJ

Effort to Legalize Marijuana in New Jersey Collapses

By NICK CORASANITI from NYT New York https://ift.tt/2HFYfqe

Copenhagen Wants to Show How Cities Can Fight Climate Change

By SOMINI SENGUPTA and CHARLOTTE DE LA FUENTE from NYT Climate https://ift.tt/2TqXJxH

California Company Recalls Avocados From Six States Over Listeria Fears

By MATT STEVENS from NYT Business https://ift.tt/2Wtj77t

A Cloud Over Trump’s Presidency Is Lifted

By PETER BAKER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2HF0Hgs

Adventurous. Alone. Attacked.

By MEGAN SPECIA and TARIRO MZEZEWA from NYT Travel https://ift.tt/2HPtluF

Why You Procrastinate (It Has Nothing to Do With Self-Control)

By CHARLOTTE LIEBERMAN from NYT Smarter Living https://ift.tt/2FpWtG8

Sandy Hook Victim’s Father Dies in Apparent Suicide in Newtown

By MICHAEL GOLD and TYLER PAGER from NYT New York https://ift.tt/2OrQFzH

Clear today!

With a high of F and a low of 50F.

Barr Goes Beyond Mueller in Clearing Trump on Obstruction, Drawing Scrutiny

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and CHARLIE SAVAGE from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2U6DSbn

The damning proof of innocence that FBI likely withheld in Russian probe

BY JOHN SOLOMON | THE HILL   Photo: (Left to Right)  George Papadopoulos and Carter Page If  President Trump  declassifies evidence in the Russia investigation, Carter Page’s summer bike ride to a Virginia farm and  George Papadopoulos ’s hasty academic jaunt to London may emerge as linchpin proof of FBI surveillance abuses during the 2016 election. The two trips have received scant attention. But growing evidence suggests both Trump campaign advisers made exculpatory statements — at the very start of the FBI’s investigation — that undercut the Trump-Russia collusion theory peddled to agents by Democratic sources. The FBI plowed ahead anyway with an unprecedented intrusion into a presidential campaign, while keeping evidence of the two men’s innocence from the courts. Page and Papadopoulos, who barely knew each other, met separately in August and September 2016 with  Stefan Halper , the American-born Cambridge University professor who, the FBI told Congress...

A Cloud Over Trump’s Presidency Is Lifted

By PETER BAKER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2CBkedv

‘A State of Emergency’: Native Americans Stranded for Days by Flooding

By MITCH SMITH from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2TVTtuU

Scientists set sail on expedition to investigate 'Iceberg Alley' off Antarctica

Scientists set sail on expedition to investigate 'Iceberg Alley' off Antarctica Region's deep-sea sediment carries signatures of past ice and climate More at https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=297997&WT.mc_id=USNSF_1 This is an NSF Discoveries item. Read more at nsf.gov

Trump Claims ‘Total Exoneration,’ but Report Is Mixed on Obstruction

By THE NEW YORK TIMES from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2HPPWY0

The Many Problems With the Barr Letter

By NEAL K. KATYAL from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2URB52Q

Forget Self-Driving Cars. Bring Back the Stick Shift.

By VATSAL G. THAKKAR from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2TRPLCT

Rafi Eitan, Israeli Spymaster Who Caught Eichmann, Is Dead at 92

By JOSEPH BERGER from NYT Obituaries https://ift.tt/2HR8l6z

Mueller Is Done. Now Probe the Real Scandal

By Kimberley A. Strassel | The Wall Street Journal Americans deserve a full accounting of the missteps of Comey and the FBI. Attorney General William Barr has reported to Congress that special counsel Robert Mueller has cleared President Trump and his campaign team of claims of conspiring with Russia during the 2016 election. This is more than an exoneration. It’s a searing indictment of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as a reminder of the need to know the story behind the bureau’s corrosive investigation. Mr. Mueller’s report likely doesn’t put it that way, but it’s the logical conclusion of his no-collusion finding. The FBI unleashed its powers on a candidate for the office of the U.S. presidency, an astonishing first. It did so on the incredible grounds that the campaign had conspired to aid a foreign government. And it used the most aggressive tools in its arsenal— surveillance of U.S. citizens, secret subpoenas of phone records and documents, even human informants. T...