レアジョブ英会話 Daily News Article Podcast

Commuters, residents, and tourists who take to social media during warm months to complain about sweltering subway systems in New York, Boston, and London should feel vindicated—new research says they aren't alone. As temperatures rise aboveground, the number of subway riders reporting uncomfortable heat belowground increases, according to a new study in the journal Nature Cities. This could worsen as climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, makes for a hotter planet. Northwestern University researchers analyzed more than 85,000 crowdsourced social posts on the social platform X and Google Maps reviews from 2008 to 2024 in those three major cities’ subway systems. They searched for keywords related to being too hot—or what they called “thermal discomfort”—in those metropolises, which are some of the world’s oldest and busiest. The experts looked for terms such as “hot” and “warm” while filtering out results that did not seem to relate to temperature, such as “hot dog.” The study’s authors said subway riders may expect temperatures to be naturally cooler underground. They found that a 1°F (0.5°C) increase in outdoor temperature led to a 10% increase in complaints in Boston, 12% in New York, and 27% in London. Earth’s average temperature warmed 1°F (0.56°C) from 2008 to 2024, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The researchers analyzed posts across seasons, time of day, and day of week. “Interestingly, over the weekend, people complained less,” said Giorgia Chinazzo, assistant professor in Northwestern’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who co-authored the study with associate professor Alessandro Rotta Loria. Chinazzo speculated that one reason may be that people were dressing differently than on workdays. Flavio Lehner, an assistant professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences at Cornell University who was not involved in the work, said the research “follows the template of previous studies that link environmental conditions to human behavior using social media data.” He has also studied how warm conditions trigger a stronger online reaction. Lehner said limitations of the research include only monitoring three city transit systems and it being difficult to control for other factors influencing social media behavior. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Alligators were once in peril of being hunted to extinction, and formally listed on the Endangered Species List decades ago. Their numbers weren't too depleted to rebound in the wild if their habitat was maintained, say some experts. But around the time they were pronounced endangered, scientists with the state of Louisiana proposed a different way to boost their numbers while protecting their habitat: farmers would pay landowners a hefty price for eggs collected from nests on their properties, raise them to sell their meat locally and their skins on the luxury market, and then release a certain percentage back into the wild every year. Now, the state of Louisiana produces over 400,000 farmed alligators every year, with farmers bringing in an estimated value of $86 million, per the state's wildlife & fisheries department. Based on data from aerial nest surveys and wild hunting tags, the state allots every year, they decide how many to release back into the wild. As numbers in the wild have grown, they've gradually dropped the percentage returned each year, from close to 20% in the early 2000s to about 5% now. Farmers and state officials say the trackers help international authorities trace and enforce that every product comes from a legal operation. Kevin Sagrera, who operates Vermillion Gator Farm in Abbeville, Louisiana, also says the financial incentives for landowners to protect alligators’ habitat and, by extension, the alligator’s eggs, help boost an ecosystem that can provide these coastal areas protection from stormwaters. Advocates say gator farming has turned the demand for boots and bags into a reason to care for a species often seen as scary, bothersome, or solely useful for their leathery outsides. Not all conservationists agree with the practice and express concerns over tying conservation to capitalism. But for luxury brands launching sustainability goals to consumers who increasingly care about brands' environmental impacts, gator ranching tells a story they say adds to and justifies the value of expensive goods. Some of the scientists who study them see that as reality. "These wetlands, these alligators ... it has to have some kind of monetary value," said George Melancon, alligator research biologist for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. "Otherwise, people just forget about them.” This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Google Maps will depend more heavily on artificial intelligence to help people figure out where they want to go and the best way to get there as part of a major redesign. The overhaul driven by Google's Gemini technology will introduce two AI features into a digital mapping service used by more than 2 billion people worldwide. One tool called Ask Maps will expand upon conversational abilities that Google brought to the service last November, giving suggestions to users looking for things such as nearby places to charge their devices, cafes with short lines, or a detailed itinerary for a road trip involving several stops and excursions. Gemini's recommendations will draw upon a database spanning more than 300 million places and reviews from more than 500 million contributors that have been accumulated since Google Maps' debut more than 20 years ago. Google executives declined to answer a question about whether the company eventually plans to sell ads to boost businesses' chances of being displayed in Ask Maps' recommendations. Ask Maps initially will be available on Google Maps' mobile app for iPhones and Android software in the U.S. and India, before expanding to personal computers and other countries. In what Google executives are billing as the biggest change to the maps' driving directions, Gemini has also created a new tool dubbed Immersive Navigation that will present a three-dimensional perspective designed to give users a better grasp of where they are at any moment in time. The 3D renderings created by Gemini will include landmarks such as notable buildings, medians in the roads, and other aspects of the terrain that drivers are seeing around them as they drive to help them get their bearings more quickly. Google believes its AI guardrails are now strong enough to prevent the Gemini technology underlying Immersive Navigation from fabricating bogus places to go, a malfunction known within the industry as a “hallucination.” Immersive Navigation is also supposed to help Google Maps more clearly explain the pros and cons of different driving routes to the same recommendation, as well as point to the best places to park once a user arrives at a designated destination. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Most of America “sprang forward” for daylight saving time on March 8. Losing that hour of sleep can do more than leave you tired and cranky the next day. It could also harm your health. Darker mornings and more evening light knock your body clock out of whack, which means daylight saving time can usher in sleep trouble for weeks or longer. Studies have even found an uptick in heart attacks and strokes right after the March time change. There are ways to ease the adjustment, including getting more sunshine to help reset your circadian rhythm for healthful sleep. Daylight saving time began on March 8 at 2 a.m., an hour of sleep vanishing in most of the U.S. The ritual will reverse on Nov. 1 when clocks “fall back” as daylight saving time ends. Hawaii and most of Arizona don’t make the spring switch, sticking to standard time year-round—along with Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Worldwide, dozens of countries also observe daylight saving time, starting and ending at different dates. Some people try to prepare for daylight saving time by going to bed a little earlier two or three nights ahead. While getting back on schedule after an hour's change may not be that difficult for some people, it's an added challenge for the third of U.S. adults who already don't get the recommended seven hours of nightly shuteye. The brain has a master clock that is set by exposure to sunlight and darkness. This circadian rhythm is a roughly 24-hour cycle that determines when we become sleepy and when we’re more alert. The patterns change with age, one reason that early-to-rise youngsters evolve into hard-to-wake teens. Morning light resets the rhythm. By evening, levels of a hormone called melatonin begin to surge, triggering drowsiness. Too much light in the evening—that extra hour from daylight saving time—delays that surge, and the cycle gets out of sync. Sleep deprivation is linked to heart disease, cognitive decline, obesity, and numerous other problems. And that circadian clock affects more than sleep, also influencing things like heart rate, blood pressure, stress hormones, and metabolism. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Climate change's rising seas may threaten tens of millions more people than scientists and government planners originally thought because of mistaken research assumptions on how high coastal waters already are, a new study said. Researchers studied hundreds of scientific studies and hazard assessments, calculating that about 90% of them underestimated baseline coastal water heights by an average of 1 foot (30 centimeters), according to the study in the journal Nature. It's a far more frequent problem in the Global South, the Pacific, and Southeast Asia, and less so in Europe and along Atlantic coasts. The cause is a mismatch between the way sea and land altitudes are measured, said study co-author Philip Minderhoud, a hydrogeology professor at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands. And he attributed that to a “methodological blind spot” between the different ways those two things are measured. Each way measures its own areas properly, he said. But where sea meets land, there are a lot of factors that often don't get accounted for when satellites and land-based models are used. Studies that calculate sea level rise impact usually “do not look at the actual measured sea level, so they used this zero-meter” figure as a starting point, said lead author Katharina Seeger of the University of Padua in Italy. In some places in the Indo-Pacific, it's close to 3 feet (1 meter), Minderhoud said. One simple way to understand that is that many studies assume sea levels without waves or currents, when the reality at the water's edge is of oceans constantly roiled by wind, tides, currents, changing temperatures, and things like El Niño, said Minderhoud and Seeger. Adjusting to a more accurate coastal height baseline means that if seas rise by a little more than 3 feet (1 meter)—as some studies suggest will happen by the end of the century—waters could inundate up to 37% more land and threaten 77 million to 132 million more people, the study said. That would trigger problems in planning and paying for the impacts of a warming world. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

The North Dakota Highway Patrol's newest recruit has floppy ears, four legs, and an amazing knack for finding people. Beau, a 12-week-old puppy, is joining a band of bloodhounds who are in demand for difficult cases across the upper Midwest. They trail missing children, people with dementia, and criminal suspects. The agency uses drones and aircraft to aid searches, but bloodhounds remain an age-old, low-tech solution. “These dogs are just specifically bred to search for people,” said Trooper Steven Mayer, who handles Bleu, one of the dogs. Bloodhounds have about 300 million scent receptors in their nose, vastly more than humans and more than other dogs, Mayer said. Their big, floppy ears and folds of skin help gather odor for the dog to trail people, sometimes after a week or more, he said. The dogs have scented from a wall someone touched, the dirt a person stumbled in, and vomit on a car door. Highway Patrol began using bloodhounds about 14 years ago, moving away from dual-purpose dogs to singular-purpose drug dogs and trailing dogs. The state force receives about 70 calls a year for their services, including one to Montana last year to help find a man suspected in the killing of four people at an Anaconda bar. Beau was born in Texas but has since moved to North Dakota's largest city, Fargo. His early training is mostly potty and kennel training and basic commands, as well as socializing him to different places, people, and environments, said Trooper Dustin Pattengale, Beau's handler. He won't be ready for a full or certified trail until he is about 9 months old. North Dakota's dogs are something of a social media sensation for the Highway Patrol. Beau's name was picked in a Facebook vote. Recent videos depict him chewing a toy bear and another bloodhound, Lorace, gallivanting in new boots. “Everybody loves a dog, I mean, especially these little babies, these floppy-eared ones,” said Mayer, who hopes the dogs' visibility yields earlier calls for their assistance. “The more word we can get out about the program and the faster we get calls on it, the easier we can get out and be available to help people,” he said. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Online influencers claim the secret to low-calorie rice, pasta, and potatoes may be as simple as chilling out. Are they right? Not quite. But a small yet solid body of science does suggest that chilling these carbohydrate-rich foods after cooking them still could help people slim down. Most of the carbohydrates in these foods come from starch, of which there are two types: hard-to-digest amylose and easily digested amylopectin. Most raw carbohydrates, like uncooked potatoes, are made mostly of the hard-to-digest starch or resistant starch, but cooking converts it into the easily digested one. This is why diabetics need to be mindful when eating starchy foods. But many influencers believe that chilling those cooked foods triggers “retrogradation,” a process that converts easily digested starch back into resistant starch, making it harder to digest even if the food is then reheated. What does that mean for calories and blood sugar? Multiple studies since 2015 have found that people who ate rice that was cooked and then cooled had sometimes significantly lower blood sugar levels after eating compared to people who ate freshly cooked rice. Those findings are generally well-accepted. Less studied is whether retrogradation also reduces the calories available from these foods. Dr. David Ludwig, an endocrinologist and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital, said, “It doesn’t appreciably change the calorie content of that food, (but) it may well affect your hormones and metabolism in a way that makes controlling calories a lot easier.” Eating foods high in resistant starch reduces the surge in blood sugar typically seen after consuming cooked carbohydrates, he explained. And that’s key not only for diabetics. Studies have shown that those sugar spikes activate the brain’s reward mechanism and trigger cravings, making overeating at snacks and later meals more likely. Also, those blood sugar surges increase the body’s production of insulin, which not only makes us feel hungry but prompts the body’s metabolism to store more calories as fat, Ludwig said. “When the food retrogrades, it digests more slowly,” he said. “It’s going to keep your blood sugar more stable. You’ll have less insulin to drive fat storage and likely have an easier time avoiding overeating.” This article was provided by The Associated Press.

During winter in Minnesota, people lined up in single-digit cold at the Moorhead Dairy Queen (DQ) as if spring were in the air. The annual March 1 opening of the 77-year-old walk-up ice cream shop is a tradition, no matter the weather. Heavy snow, subzero cold—people will brave a blizzard for a Blizzard. “It just says that we're tough, and there are things that are really important to us,” said Jerry Protextor, a retired pastor who stood in line for a butterscotch milkshake and a chocolate-mint Blizzard. “It's just a part of community.” March is very much a winter month in the Upper Midwest, though the weather can vary wildly. The annual opening of the Dairy Queen “heritage store” brings the hope of spring and a familiar promise for people who need something to look forward to, especially with unrest in the world, owners Troy and Diane DeLeon said. “It’s a sense of unity. It’s a tradition for many families,” Diane DeLeon said. Wintry weather typically has a long hold on the region, and that was certainly true last March 1, as the temperature was a brisk 6 °F (-14 °C) when the Dairy Queen opened. Patrons could gaze over snowy surroundings as they ate their icy treats. An average of 1,200 customers stopped by the Dairy Queen on its opening day. Some showed up early and waited in their cars. Being first in line brings yearlong bragging rights. The store typically closes in late October. Julie Bergseid arrived before 7 a.m. to be first in line after two years in a row as second. “Usually there's a little bit of a line after a bit, so you gotta get here before they start,” she said. “It's momentous that this is the start of spring, no matter what the temperature. This starts it: going to the DQ, getting your first ice cream of the season.” Bundled up in snow pants, long underwear, wool socks, and mittens, she planned to sit down at a patio table and enjoy her barbecue, a Peanut Buster Parfait, and a Dilly frozen treat. “It won't melt. That's the nice thing,” Bergseid said. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Imagine dining on “edible plastic” made from algae and collagen from fish skins. While you ingest the dish, ocean-borne plastic pollution seemingly floats above you, projected across the restaurant's huge domed ceiling. It's an experience—and dish—inspired by large garbage patches found in our seas. In Denmark, Chef Rasmus Munk doesn't offer dishes at the Alchemist restaurant. Instead, he whisks guests on an “immersive dining experience” combining performance, music, projections in its planetarium-like domed dining room, and, of course, food. Opened in 2019 at the site of a former industrial harbor area in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, Alchemist was named the world's fifth-best restaurant in 2025. It has two Michelin stars, signifying excellence in cuisine, out of a maximum of three possible for one establishment. Guests at this restaurant can experience 50 “impressions,” most of them edible. Dining there means trying various foods—a large eyeball dish featuring caviar and codfish eye gel, and nettle butterflies served atop cheese and artichoke leaves—over many hours, in a slow process that invites reflection on the food and surrounding projections. “We convey messages through our food. Our food is our medium of expressing ourselves,” said Munk, whose dishes also explore issues such as state surveillance and animal welfare. Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said in January that Denmark would explore whether gastronomy could be formally recognized as an art form. If realized, it could become the first nation to legally place cooking—or at least the highest versions of it—on a similar pedestal to painting. Other nations with famed food cultures, including France and Japan, haven't made similar moves. Last year, UNESCO granted Italian cooking cultural heritage status. Denmark has previously expanded what constitutes art and culture, for example, by awarding a lifetime national arts honor to heavy metal act King Diamond. Last year, the Sonning Prize, Denmark's largest cultural award, was awarded to French gastronomic artist and chemist Hervé This. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Global energy trade is in turmoil as war around the Persian Gulf chokes off oil and natural gas shipments, causing prices to soar. Asia is the most exposed since it relies heavily on imported fuel, much of it shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passageway that carries a fifth of global trade in crude oil and liquified natural gas (LNG). About 13 million barrels of oil per day moved through the corridor in 2025, according to energy consultancy Kpler. That's about a third of all seaborne crude, the unrefined petroleum that is processed into fuels such as gasoline and diesel. Few regions are as exposed to Middle East energy flow disruptions as East Asia. “If the Strait of Hormuz closure is prolonged, then we do expect oil and gas prices to increase across Asia. But this again would depend on the severity of the blockage and, importantly, how long the blockage lasts. We've already seen this price spike happen,” said Amy Kong, energy transition researcher at Zero Carbon Analytics. Japan imported 2.34 million barrels of crude per day in January, about 95% of its total imports that month, according to its Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Japan is often ranked as the world's second-largest LNG importer. South Korea relies nearly entirely on energy imports. The Korea International Trade Association says it gets around 70% of its crude oil and 20% of its LNG from the Middle East. Taiwan also imports nearly all of its LNG. It has been trying to reduce its reliance on the Middle East but still sources about one-third from Qatar, which halted LNG production after attacks on its facilities. In Manila, authorities banned non-essential travel and personal use of government cars to cut fuel use. Japan and South Korea have large energy supply stockpiles. While Taiwan announced that it has enough supplies for March and contingency plans for the future. But analysts say reserves are temporary buffers and energy-intensive industries, like Taiwan's semiconductor industry, remain vulnerable. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Beyond Meat is dropping “Meat” from its name as it moves beyond the struggling market for plant-based burgers, sausages, and tenders and expands into new categories like protein drinks. The company, rebranded as Beyond The Plant Protein Co.—or simply Beyond on its packaging—changed its website and social media channels. Beyond introduced its first beverage, a sparkling protein drink called Beyond Immerse, in January and plans to release a protein bar this summer. The refresh could be critical for the brand. U.S. sales of plant-based alternatives to meat are flagging and have dragged Beyond down with them. The company's net revenue dropped 14% in the first nine months of 2025. Its shares have been trading below $1 since the start of this year. “For me, it is an opportunity to reshape the company around very real food that is directly from plants,” said Beyond President and CEO Ethan Brown, who founded the company in 2009. “It’s about delivering all those benefits of the plant kingdom to the consumer in ways that they’re going to be able to easily integrate it into their lives.” Beyond is not the only vegan food company making a pivot. Consumer demand for protein is skyrocketing, and several companies are scrambling to serve up more plant-based options. Eat Just, which makes plant-based eggs, introduced a protein powder made with mung beans last spring. In January, Impossible Foods announced a partnership with Equii Foods to develop protein-packed breads and pastas. Silk, a plant-based dairy brand, also unveiled a protein drink in January. Chris Costagli, a food thought leader at NielsenIQ (NIQ), said plant-based brands have struggled in recent years as customers scrutinized their labels and found unfamiliar ingredients, added sugars, or high sodium content. After peaking in 2020, U.S. retail sales of plant-based meat have plummeted, falling 26% over the last two years, according to NIQ. “There’s a lot of fillers and gums and texturizers and things that give those products a more familiar feel,” Costagli said. “I think as people have been paying closer and closer attention to what they’re actually ingesting, it’s causing some products to stumble.” This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Billions fewer birds are flying through North American skies than decades ago, and their population is shrinking faster, mostly due to a combination of intensive agriculture and warming temperatures, a new study found. Nearly half of the 261 species studied showed big enough losses in numbers to be statistically significant, and more than half of those declining are seeing their losses accelerate since 1987, according to the journal Science. The study is the first to look at more than the total bird population by examining the trends in their decrease, where they are shrinking the most, and what the declines are connected to. “Not only are we losing birds. We are losing them faster and faster from year to year,” said study co-author Marta Jarzyna, an ecologist at Ohio State University. The only consolation is that the birds that are shrinking in numbers the fastest are species—such as the European starling, American crow, grackle, and house sparrow—with large enough populations that they aren't yet at risk of going extinct, said study lead author Francois Leroy, also an Ohio State ecologist. Cornell University conservation scientist Kenneth Rosenberg, who wasn't part of the study, said the species declining fastest in the new research “are often considered pests or ‘trash birds,’ but if our environment cannot support healthy populations of these extreme generalists and extremely adaptable species that are tolerant of humans, then that is a very strong indicator that the environment is also toxic to humans and all other life.” The biggest locations for acceleration of bird loss were in the Mid-Atlantic, the Midwest, and California, the study found. And geography proved important when Leroy and Jarzyna looked for reasons why so many bird species are shrinking ever faster. When it came to population declines—not the acceleration—the scientists noticed bigger losses further south. When they did a deeper analysis, they statistically connected those losses to warmer temperatures from human-caused climate change. “In regions where temperatures increase the most, we are seeing strongest declines in populations,” Jarzyna said. “On the other hand, the acceleration of those declines, that’s mostly driven by agricultural practices.” This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Joelle Haley went into labor on Christmas Day. Her son, Kieran, was born two days later, premature at only 24 weeks. To help calm herself, Haley would grab yarn and needles and crochet each day while in the Children's Hospital of Michigan Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at DMC Hutzel Women's Hospital in Detroit. It's been Haley's hobby since second grade, and something she's now using to help calm other premature babies in the NICU and their mothers. “I had heard a nurse mention that they wished that they had some here, and I asked what she meant out of curiosity,” Haley told reporters. “And since I crochet myself, I was like, ‘I can help with that. I'll find a pattern.’ And I posted on a Facebook page and had a lot of people reach out—more than I expected.” Amigurumi, from the Japanese, are knitted but mostly crocheted, small stuffed toy animals made of colorful yarn. The tentacles on the yarn octopi give babies something soft to grab, clutch, and pull instead of breathing and feeding tubes, wires, and other lifesaving and monitoring equipment. Some babies receiving care require breathing support, said Dr. Jorge Lua, medical director at Hutzel Women’s Hospital, which is part of the Detroit Medical Center. “Some babies will have security blankets. Our babies will have the octopi to keep them cuddled and make them more secure, decrease the anxiety on the part of the baby,” Lua said. Haley said she often saw her son tug at the tubes connecting him to NICU equipment. Another benefit of the octopi is that they help soothe the babies and their parents. “It helps me feel comforted that I was able to help other children,” said Haley, who lives in suburban Detroit. “Seeing my son with his (octopus) helps me know that he'll be safe and comforted when I'm not here. So, I hope it brings that same feeling to other families.” This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Osaka has received a hefty gift of gold bars worth 560 million yen ($3.6 million) from an anonymous donor asking for its specific use: to fix the Japanese city's dilapidated water pipes. The gold bars weighing 21 kilograms (46 pounds) in total were given to the Osaka City Waterworks Bureau in November by the donor who wants to help improve aging water pipes, Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama told reporters. "It's a staggering amount, and I was speechless," Yokoyama said. "Tackling aging water pipes requires a huge investment, and I cannot thank you enough for the donation." The mayor said his city will respect the donor's wishes and use the gift to improve waterworks projects. Concern over the safety of Osaka's waterworks systems grew after a massive sinkhole swallowed a truck and killed the driver last year. It was linked to a damaged sewer in Saitama, north of Tokyo. Osaka had 92 cases of water pipe leaks under city roads in the fiscal year ending March 2025, the city's waterworks official Eiji Kotani told The Associated Press. With a population of 2.8 million, Osaka is the country's third-largest city and serves as a western Japanese capital. Most of Japan's main public infrastructure was built during the rapid postwar economic growth. Urban development in Osaka, a regional commercial hub, started earlier than many other cities, and its water pipes and other infrastructure are also aging earlier, Kotani said. Osaka needs to renew a total of 259 kilometers (160 miles) of water pipes, he said. Renewing a 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) segment of water pipes would cost about 500 million yen ($3.2 million), Kotani said. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Burger King is testing AI-powered headsets that can recite recipes, alert managers when inventories are low, and even track how friendly employees are to customers. Restaurant Brands International—the Miami-based company that owns Burger King, Popeyes, and other brands—said it's currently testing the OpenAI-powered headsets in 500 U.S. restaurants. The system collects data on restaurant operations and shares it via “Patty,” a voice that talks to employees through their headsets. If the drink machine is low on Diet Coke, Patty will tell the store's manager. If a customer uses a QR code to report a messy bathroom, the manager will be alerted. Employees can ask Patty how to make various menu items or tell Patty to remove items from digital menus if they've run out of ingredients. Burger King said it's also exploring using Patty as a way to improve customer service. The system can track when employees say keywords like “welcome,” “please,” and “thank you” and share that with managers. When asked about that capability by The Associated Press, Burger King said the intent is to use Patty as a coaching tool, not a tracker of individual employees. “It's not about scoring individuals or enforcing scripts. It's about reinforcing great hospitality and giving managers helpful, real-time insights so they can recognize their teams more effectively,” Burger King said in a statement. Burger King added that the keywords are “one of many signals to help managers understand service patterns.” “We believe hospitality is fundamentally human. The role of this technology is to support our teams so they can stay present with guests,” Burger King said. Patty is part of a larger app-based BK Assistant platform that will be available to all U.S. restaurants later this year. Burger King is one of several fast-food chains experimenting with artificial intelligence. Yum Brands said last spring it was partnering with Nvidia to develop AI technologies for its brands, which include KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut. McDonald's ended a partnership with IBM in 2024 that was testing automated orders at its drive-thrus. The company is now working with Google on AI systems. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Tampa International Airport said on social media that it wanted to ban people from wearing pajamas at the Florida facility. No, it wasn't being serious. A post on the airport's official X account said that after successfully going "Crocs-free," Tampa International had "seen enough" of pajamas. "The madness stops today. The movement starts now," reads the post, which had been viewed 5.7 million times by mid-afternoon Eastern time and generated a debate about airport attire in the comments. Beau Zimmer, an airport spokesperson, told The Associated Press the post was part of the airport's longstanding social media persona—a tongue-in-cheek voice it has cultivated since its early days on Twitter, before the platform rebranded as X. The account has attracted a loyal global following, he said. "Our regular social media followers just eat this stuff up," Zimmer said. "But obviously this is all in fun, and we encourage our travelers to be comfortable." U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy reacted to the post with a GIF of actor John Krasinski from the TV show The Office looking into the camera and saying, "Yes!" Duffy has been encouraging passengers to dress more formally while flying, part of a civility campaign he launched last November—called "the Golden Age of Travel Starts with You." The Transportation Department said the campaign was "intended to jump-start a nationwide conversation around how we can all restore courtesy and class to air travel." The airport released a statement clarifying its post was intended as a joke. "Today's post about 'banning' pajamas was another playful nod to day-of-travel fashion debates," it said. "We encourage our passengers to travel comfortably and appreciate our loyal followers who enjoy the online humor." This article was provided by The Associated Press.

For some young children in Columbus, Ohio, reading assessments don't start in the kindergarten classroom—they happen first in the doctor's office. With concerns rising about lagging childhood literacy rates across the country, Nationwide Children's Hospital has begun screening children's literacy skills starting at age 3 during pediatrician visits. The idea is to catch reading struggles early on and guide parents on how to help their kids. "They are all doing developmental screenings, they're all talking to parents repeatedly," said Sara Bode, the hospital's medical director of school-based health. "So this is an opportunity." The pediatric hospital chose clinics to provide the literacy screenings largely based on their proximity to schools with lower performance scores on kindergarten readiness assessments. Across Columbus City Schools, more than 63% of kindergarteners were behind on language and literacy skills during the 2024-2025 school year, according to state kindergarten readiness assessment (KRA) data. Concerns about childhood literacy extend far beyond Columbus. Nationally, the percentage of fourth graders considered proficient in reading sits just above 30%, according to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation's report card. Reading proficiency has dipped 4 percentage points since 2019 as schools have struggled to make up for pandemic learning losses. Literacy screenings are not typically conducted in medical settings, but several prominent pediatric care centers, including Boston Children's Hospital, promote early literacy resources to families in recognition of reading's importance for a child's development. Kids who enter kindergarten with lower reading ability often struggle to catch up in later grades. Almost three-fourths of kindergarteners who test in the bottom 20% of students for readiness exams remain in the bottom 20% of their class by fifth grade, according to The Children's Reading Foundation, a nonprofit organization. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

A Massachusetts couple who were subjected to threats and bizarre anonymous deliveries—including unwanted packages and disturbing items—by former eBay Inc. employees reached a settlement in their lawsuit against the company. In their 2021 lawsuit filed in Boston federal court, David and Ina Steiner said that the company engaged in a conspiracy to intimidate and harass them in order to “stifle their reporting on eBay.” The Natick residents, who run EcommerceBytes, an online newsletter focused on the e-commerce industry, said they were subjected to cyberstalking, death threats, and in-person surveillance by former eBay workers. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Boston U.S. District Judge Patti Saris dismissed the case after the parties settled, though the order allowed either side to reopen it within 60 days if the agreement is not finalized. An eBay spokesperson referred to the order for comment and said the company had nothing further to add. When the suit was filed, the company said “the misconduct of these former employees was wrong,” and that it would “do what is fair and appropriate to try to address what the Steiners went through.” In 2020, federal prosecutors charged seven former eBay employees, alleging they carried out a coordinated harassment campaign against the couple after becoming angered by coverage in the couple’s online newsletter. Most of the defendants pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy and cyberstalking and were later sentenced to prison terms or home confinement. In 2024, eBay Inc. agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty under a deferred prosecution agreement with federal authorities. Aside from harassment that included anonymous deliveries of items, the employees also planned to break into the couple’s garage to install a GPS device on their car. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

The Pokémon Europe International Championships drew more than 7,000 competitors from 70 countries to London, making it Europe's largest e-sports tournament. The event showcased how the franchise has evolved from a 1990s Game Boy title into a global entertainment phenomenon. Judges formed a guard of honor to welcome players to the tournament floor, applauding as they entered the competition area. The championship trophy was on display, waiting for the eventual winner. A giant Pikachu hung from the event center ceiling, suspended high above the competition area below. Presenters introduced the opening ceremony on large screens positioned throughout the venue. The Pikachu mascot made its entrance into the arena to cheers from the crowd. More than 17,000 visitors filled the event floor from February 13 to 15, supported by over 1,100 staff working across the venue. Screens showcased Pokémon Go, the mobile game phenomenon that has received more than one billion downloads globally since launching in 2016. These are one-versus-one battles to catch Pokémon in the wild using the popular mobile phone app. In another area, players competed in Pokémon UNITE. Competitors formed teams of five players within their region and battled in five-versus-five matches on Nintendo Switch or mobile devices. Video game competitors played Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet across three age divisions. Players brought four Pokémon into double battles against their opponents. Chris Brown, Director of Global Esports and Events at The Pokémon Company International, said the scale of the tournament demonstrates the franchise's enduring appeal. “Today at this show, we've got over 6,800 competitors,” he said. “This is the largest e-sport tournament in Europe. One of the largest e-sport tournaments in the whole world.” Brown said the event attracted participants from every corner of the globe. “We've got 71 countries and regions represented. So, it truly is a global event. It's not just Europe,” he said. “We've got players from North America, from Latin America, obviously, of course, all over Europe.” This article was provided by The Associated Press.

As the use of artificial intelligence surges across the globe, the technology is steadily gaining ground in India. Businesses, start-ups, and individuals are experimenting with new ways to improve efficiency and scale. The Indian government is also rolling out national initiatives to fund research and train workers in the field of AI. That push was displayed at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, which was attended by heads of state, senior officials, and technology executives. With nearly a billion internet users, India has also become a key focus for global tech companies to scale their AI businesses in one of the world’s fastest-growing digital markets. From farms to classrooms, AI is fast emerging as a tool for many Indians to boost efficiency, helping them cut time, rising costs, and labor constraints. In New Delhi, students and educators are using AI technology to help them find solutions for their work. Anirudh Singh, a Master’s student in social work from Delhi University, has developed a virtual dashboard using AI as part of an internship project on mapping six states for weather predictions in 2026, including data on heat and rain risk. “I think AI is just reducing the tedious work that students generally had to do. Like, looking at various studies and then coming for a single line or a single crux of that article, we have to read the whole article. AI is reducing the tedious work, and that's what Google did when it came, and AI just improved on it,” he said. Educator Swetank Pandey teaches at a civil services coaching center, a sector known for its fierce competition and mammoth volume. Millions of young Indians compete for civil service jobs each year, and coaching institutes are forced to process vast numbers of tests, evaluations, and revisions. Pandey said AI has made that workload easier to manage. Pandey said the technology helps him carry out the same task on a loop, allowing tens of thousands of answer sheets to be evaluated in as little as 20 to 25 minutes. This article was provided by The Associated Press.