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Britain and France laughed at each other last night after the French administration accused the British government of despising Brexit accords on fishing and Northern Ireland and betraying an ally's trust.
French anger, still burning over a defence deal this month with Australia, escalated yesterday when Britain refused fishing permits to most smaller French fishing craft that had applied for access to Britain's 6-12 nautical mile offshore zone, and Jersey rejected most of the permits requested for its waters.
The British decisions “are totally unacceptable and breach the accord that was signed in the framework of Brexit”, the French government spokesman said. France would work with the European Commission to “explore possible retaliation ”, he added.
The French minister for the sea, said the decisions were “a new refusal by the British to implement the conditions of the Brexit agreement, despite all the work we have done together. French fishing should not be taken hostage by the British for political ends.”
The French government spokesman said that Paris stood firmly behind the fishermen from Normandy, Brittany and the Channel area who were threatening to hold protests against the forthcoming loss of livelihood.
Last night it was reported that France was threatening to cut energy supplies to Jersey and prevent lorries from entering the Channel Tunnel. The French minister for the sea has asked fishermen to give her two weeks to arrange sanctions that could affect energy supply, railways, trade and the access of British students to France, according to The Daily Telegraph .
Britain's attitude to fishing was part of a pattern of behaviour by the British Prime Minster that was worrying, presidential officials said. French government is worried that he will use the Conservative Party conference next week to announce Britain's break with the agreement that maintains an open land border between Northern Ireland and the Irish republic.
British hostility was typified by threats from the home secretary, over efforts to stop migrant crossings of the Channel, a presidential official said. “In all these subjects, what we are asking of the British Prime Minister is simply to keep his word,” he added.
“Britain was involved in an affair behind our backs. The behaviour of the British has not been the behaviour of an ally,” the official said. Britain said only 12 out of 47 applications by smaller French fishing vessels had been able to meet the demand that they prove they had fished in the zone for four years before 2016. Paris said that 87 smaller fishing vessels had applied for British inner waters permits, not 47.
“Our approach has been reasonable and fully in line with our commitments in the trade and cooperation agreement,” a British government spokesman said.
[A] France's opposition to Brexit
[B] France's efforts to stop migrants from Britain
[C] British restrictions on French fishing vessels
[D] Britain's protest against French intervention
[A] betrayal
[B] counterattack
[C] conspiracy
[D] compromise
[A] military
[B] banking
[C] education
[D] religion
[A] He would break the agreement on an open land border with the Irish republic.
[B] He would impose a new round of military sanctions against the French fleets.
[C] He would try to persuade the British Conservative Party to impose sanctions against France.
[D] He would endeavour to push forward the process of leaving the European Union.
[A] It turned a deaf ear to it.
[B] It insisted on its innocence.
[C] It refused to keep its word.
[D] It blamed France for overacting.
What hope does climate change have? The solution may be to call climate change by its many ripple effects: pollution, disease, injustice, displacement, the list goes on. We can make it more perceivable by focusing on one of its many aspects. This will help us feel there's something in our sphere of influence that we can tackle.
Feeling too small to tackle the problem can cause us to feel hopeless. The sense of being in a constant state of alert triggers the part of the brain that wants to survive-the “fight, flight, or freeze” instinct-which bypasses the rational part of the brain.
Anxiety is an understandable and appropriate response to the ecological devastations people are experiencing around the world. But there isn't an automatic connection between individual climate anxiety and collective climate action. This is because most of us don't know how to engage the political process as a collective, and because most of us don't know how to use uncomfortable emotions for that collective work. We need to channel our negative emotions to building community, rather than rubbing and twisting our hands over how insignificant our actions feel.
We can do this by finding others who feel the urgency as we do, who see the connections between climate and other social ills, and who also want to channel their worry into action. Communities like this are all around us at both the national and local levels, from the Just Transition and Sunrise Movements to mutual aid and sustainability programs in your schools, churches and places of employment. You can help make sure your local green spaces are accessible. You can contribute to a community garden. You can learn the indigenous practices of the land you are on. You can support young people who care about climate justice.
We needn't remove carbon from the atmosphere overnight to be effective in addressing climate change. We need to start where we are, use the talents we already have, and plug into groups and communities that are already doing the work. Building community around action should be our measure of success, and it can happen right now. When we are working to nurture what we value, it gives us a sense of control which is an antidote to anxiety.
You can use your climate anxiety for immense good. The planet needs you to be resilient, not anxious to the point you cannot function. Paying attention to your mental health, in this case, will help the survival of life on the planet.
[A] Because it helps us better know about our planet.
[B] Because it can encourage us to deal with climate change.
[C] Because it contributes to addressing climate anxiety.
[D] Because it offers us a final solution to climate change.
[A] Normal but not desirable.
[B] Absurd but acceptable.
[C] Silly and ridiculous.
[D] Unnecessary and useless.
[A] focus more on their own green daily life
[B] make full use of national and local power
[C] turn their negative emotions into action
[D] learn to regulate their emotions appropriately
[A] To solve climate change overnight.
[B] To change the way we cope with climate change.
[C] To build a society that highlights climate change.
[D] To create communities that take action.
[A] keep a positive attitude towards human future
[B] take care of our own psychological health
[C] launch campaigns to eliminate carbon emissions immediately
[D] help the young set up more green communities
For decades now, California leaders have been stuck in a low-density, single-family, not-in-my-backyard 20th century mindset. The result is a deep housing shortage that is driving more Californians into poverty, worsening inequality and hurting economic opportunity.
The amazing cost of buying or renting a home in California takes a terrible toll . Rents have risen faster than incomes, and 1 in 3 households statewide now spend more than half their income on rent, leaving many families one rent increase or one missed paycheck away from losing their homes. When residents cannot afford to live near jobs, they often move to far-flung suburbs and commute hours each day, worsening traffic congestion and air pollution. Employers say high housing costs hurt the state's economy by making it hard to attract and retain skilled workers-a situation that has led some companies to relocate to states where their middle-class workers can afford to buy homes.
The heart of the problem is this: California has failed to build enough housing to keep up with population growth and demand. California needs to add between 1.8 million and 2.5 million new homes by 2025 to ease the housing shortage that is driving up rents and home prices. But when more than two-thirds of residential land in California is zoned for single-family homes, it becomes difficult and expensive to add housing.
This isn't just a California problem. Across the nation, about 75% of residential land is zoned exclusively for single-family homes. Too many communities make it too hard to build a diverse housing stock. They prioritize the construction and preservation of single-family homes, at the exclusion of apartments, condos and townhomes that would be more affordable to middle and lower-income renters and buyers. That is fueling a housing shortage; the US needs 3.8 million more homes to meet the demand of household growth and to provide enough inventory to stabilize prices.
Restrictive zoning has its roots in racist public policies. Single-family zoning was often adopted over the last century as a way to segregate neighborhoods without explicitly banning any racial or religious group. Today, restrictive or exclusionary zoning perpetuates racial and economic segregation by prohibiting lower-cost apartments and townhomes in high-opportunity single-family neighborhoods with good schools, parks and other amenities.
In California, lawmakers have an opportunity this year to take small but vital steps toward easing the housing crisis. Senate Bills 9 and 10 would allow small multifamily buildings on single-family lots. These are the two most controversial housing bills this year. That should tell you just how politicized housing legislation has become because, despite all the anxiety, these bills probably won't make a big impact on home construction any time soon.
[A] overheated real estate market
[B] extremely weak housing supply
[C] a lack of upscale communities
[D] the dramatic fluctuation in housing prices
[A] has great negative effects
[B] incurs violent criticism
[C] causes a lot of deaths
[D] encounters fierce opposition
[A] Housing is oversupplied while people are less interested in buying new houses.
[B] Housing prices are soaring wildly while population growth has fallen close to zero.
[C] Residents expect to live downtown while government builds houses in the suburbs.
[D] More single-family homes are being built while many people can't afford them.
[A] Adopting the policies of restrictive or exclusionary zoning.
[B] Restricting colored people from buying single-family houses.
[C] Prohibiting low-income groups from living in rich neighborhoods.
[D] Stopping children of poor families from going to private schools.
[A] California lawmakers will make political sacrifices
[B] the two housing bills will stir up California's housing market
[C] there is little hope that the two housing bills yield immediate results
[D] there will be a greater sense of anxiety among politicians
Automation and artificial intelligence technologies are transforming manufacturing, corporate work and the retail business, providing new opportunities for companies to explore and posing major threats to those that don't adapt to the times. Equally daunting challenges confront colleges and universities, but they've been slower to acknowledge them.
At present, colleges and universities are most worried about competition from schools or training systems using online learning technology. But that is just one aspect of the technological changes already under way. For example, some companies are moving toward requiring workers have specific skills trainings and certifications-as opposed to college degrees.
As a professor who researches artificial intelligence and offers distance learning courses, I can say that online education is a disruptive challenge for which colleges are ill-prepared. Lack of student demand is already closing 800 out of roughly 10,000 engineering colleges in India. And online learning has put as many as half the colleges and universities in the US at risk of shutting down in the next couple decades as remote students get comparable educations over the internet-without living on campus or taking classes in person. Unless universities move quickly to transform themselves into educational institutions for a technology-assisted future, they risk becoming obsolete.
Enormous amounts of information are now available online for free, ready for watching, listening or reading at any time, by anyone who's connected. For more than a decade, private companies, nonprofits and universities alike have been experimenting with online courses, often offered for free or at low cost to large numbers of students around the world. Research has shown that it's as effective for students to use a combination of online courses and traditional in-classroom instruction as it is to just have classes in person.
Providers of massive open online courses (often called “MOOCs”) are refining ways for people who complete the classes to present their accomplishments in ways employers can understand easily. For example, students in certain classes from major MOOC provider edX can get an official Arizona State University transcript listing their courses and grades. An employer would never know the person studied online. (There's another threat to universities' business model, too: Students can take the classes and get their grades for free; they only need to pay if they are happy with their grades, and if they want official college credit.)
This is a period of rapid change unlike what universities have dealt with for centuries.
[A] they might lose opportunities to explore new fields
[B] they would face more competition from each other
[C] they are at risk of being obsolete due to inadaptation to the new technology
[D] they will be burdened with debt for developing new technology
[A] college degrees are no longer essential
[B] technological changes lie in various aspects
[C] some companies are innovating themselves
[D] competition is beneficial to all colleges
[A] they embrace the technology-assisted future
[B] they resort to AI technology
[C] they employ more technology and less staff
[D] they can balance the budget and innovation
[A] Online courses with AI technology.
[B] Traditional in-classroom instruction.
[C] The combination of tutoring and AI technology.
[D] Combining online and traditional teaching.
[A] The Merits and Demerits of Online Courses
[B] Online Courses Have to Be Improved to Better Education
[C] Universities Must Prepare for a Technology-Enabled Future
[D] The Threats That MOOCs Pose to Universities' Business Model