Voicy Journal

Voicy News Brief with articles from The New York Times ニュース原稿 6/13-6/19

Voicy News Brief with articles from The New York Times ニュース原稿 6/13-6/19

Voicy初の公式英語ニュースチャンネル「Voicy News Brief with articles from New York Times」。チャンネルでは、バイリンガルパーソナリティがThe New York Timesの記事を英語で2つ読み、記事の中に出てくる単語を日本語で解説しています。


Voicy Journalでは、毎週金曜日にその週に読んだ記事を、まとめて紹介します!1週間の終わりに、その週の放送をもう1度聞いて復習するのも良いかもしれません。VoicyのPCページやアプリでは、再生速度も変えられるので、自分の理解度に応じて、調整してみましょう。

6/13(土)の放送

Defying Trump, Senate Panel Moves to Strip Military Bases of Confederate Names

著者:Catie Edmondson
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

WASHINGTON — A key Senate committee voted Wednesday to require the Pentagon to strip military bases and equipment of Confederate names, monuments or symbols within three years, setting up an election-year clash with President Donald Trump on the issue amid a rapidly building national outcry against historical representations of racism.

The move by the Armed Services Committee to insert the mandate into a must-pass defense authorization bill, which was supported by Republicans and Democrats alike, came as Trump publicly declared his refusal to even consider removing any of the names. He raged about it on Twitter on Thursday, exhorting members of his party to resist the effort even as a growing number of Republicans on Capitol Hill said they were open to removing symbols of the Confederacy.

The conflict underscored how isolated the president is becoming, even from members of his own party, as protests of police brutality against black people fuel a broader discussion of race and identity in America.

The break is more than rhetorical. The move to include the proposal, written by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., raised the prospect of an election-year Senate vote on the issue.

“The American people know these names have to go,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at a news conference Thursday. The president, she continued, “seems to be the only person left who doesn’t get it.”

Republican lawmakers’ willingness to break with the president on the issue comes as they have also distanced themselves from his bellicose response to the protests, instead scrambling to come up with a plan to combat racism in policing.

On Thursday, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the House minority leader, told reporters he was “not opposed” to renaming the bases named for Confederate figures.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said he “didn’t have any problem” with the idea “at all” and added that “there’s been lots of great soldiers since the Civil War” whose names could go on forts.

Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he felt the issue “should be decided by the local communities and states, as opposed to mandating something that maybe the people don’t want.”

defy  無視する、反抗する
confederate 南部同盟の
strip はぐ、取り除く
outcry  激しい抗議
exhort — to do (人に~するよう) 熱心に勧める
underscore ~を強調する、明確にする
rhetorical 修辞的な
bellicose 好戦的な

NASA Needs to Find Ice on the Moon. This Rover Will Lead the Search.

著者:Kenneth Chang
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

After sending four rovers to Mars — with a fifth scheduled to launch in July — NASA announced on Thursday a contract for putting its first wheeled robot on the moon.

Astrobotic Technology Inc. of Pittsburgh won a $199.5 million contract to deliver the robotic explorer to the moon in late 2023. The price includes the rocket to launch the mission and the lander that will set the rover down near the moon’s South Pole.

The rover — the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER — is the latest in a series of robotic missions that NASA is financing as part of its renewed interest in the moon.

VIPER is to spend about 100 days rolling around in search of water ice, which is believed to exist in permanently shadowed craters near the moon’s poles — among the coldest places in the solar system.

That water could provide an invaluable resource for future astronauts. It would provide water to drink, and the water molecules could also be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen. That could yield oxygen for astronauts to breathe, as well as propellant for rockets traveling home to Earth or elsewhere in the solar system.

However, the exact location and nature of the water ice is not known. It could be at the surface as frost or buried underground. It might be pure water or bound up in minerals. VIPER’s mission is to figure that out, and the information would help plan where astronauts would land on the moon, which NASA optimistically has scheduled for 2024.

“VIPER is going to be the first robot to actually touch this water ice that we’ve detected,” said Steven Clarke, who recently left his position as deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA’s science directorate for another role at the agency.

The rover will carry a suite of instruments, including a drill that will allow it to investigate what is below the surface.

lander (月面などへの)着陸船
invaluable 計り知れない(ほど貴重な)
yield  自動詞〔農産物や鉱物が〕産出する
propellant (ロケットの)推進薬
a suite of 一式の、一組の

6/14(日)の放送

The Oscars Will Add a Diversity Requirement for Eligibility

著者:Nicole Sperling
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which oversees the Academy Awards, announced Friday a handful of efforts to improve inclusion both within its organization and for the Oscars themselves.

For the annual telecast, which next year may be in flux because of the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, the academy will create a task force to develop new inclusion standards for Oscar eligibility by the end of July. The academy has not yet determined what those standards will be, and films submitted this year will not be affected. The organization also announced that the best picture category will be set at 10 films rather than the fluctuating number of nominations that has been in effect since the 2010 Oscars.

Internally, the organization’s Board of Governors amended its bylaws to limit the number of terms each governor may serve on the board to a maximum of 12. Previously, there was no limit.

“The need to address this issue is urgent,” the academy’s chief executive, Dawn Hudson, said. “To that end, we will amend — and continue to examine — our rules and procedures to ensure that all voices are heard and celebrated.”

These efforts, which are part of the initiative titled “Academy Aperture 2025,” will also include a series of panels titled “Academy Dialogue: It Starts with Us” for members and the public on race, ethnicity and history.

The inclusion effort will expand to the academy’s Los Angeles museum and its collections and programs. The museum, a $388 million project that has been hampered by cost overruns and fundraising challenges, is set to open in December, though that too may be delayed.

The academy’s membership came under intense scrutiny in 2016, the second year in a row that the organization did not nominate any actors of color for Oscars and overlooked films that focused on black characters for best-picture nominations. Academy leaders vowed to double the number of people of color and women members by 2020.

In 2015, 8% were people of color, and 25% were women. As of last year, people of color made up 16% of the membership, according to the academy, and women made up 32%.

On Wednesday, the academy announced its new board of governors, increasing the number of female Academy governors to 26 out of 54, and people of color to 12.

inclusion 含むこと、含有
telecast テレビ放送
hamper 妨げる、じゃまする、妨害する
scrutiny 精密な調査、じろじろ見ること

Fed Warns of ‘Extraordinarily Uncertain’ Path to Recovery

著者:Jeanna Smialek
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve painted a sober picture of the economy Friday, declaring that the financial system remains under stress because of the coronavirus pandemic and that the path back to steady growth and a strong labor market is unsure.

In a semiannual monetary policy report to Congress, its first since the pandemic took hold, the Fed said the nation’s gross domestic product would probably contract “at a rapid pace” in the second quarter after “tumbling” in the first.

“Global economic activity in the first half of the year has experienced a sharp and synchronized contraction greater than that in the global financial crisis” more than a decade ago, the Fed said. Domestically, it added, “the path ahead is extraordinarily uncertain.”

The worldwide slowdown came after governments locked down their economies to slow the spread of the virus. In the United States, states are slowly lifting stay-at-home orders that have been in place since mid-March.

While the central bank has moved to blunt the fallout in financial markets from that shock — buying unlimited quantities of government-backed bonds and rolling out a series of emergency lending programs that go beyond even the response to the 2008 financial crisis — it noted that borrowing conditions remained tight for households with weaker credit histories. It also flagged lingering risks to banks and other financial entities.

President Donald Trump has made it clear that he expects a rapid economic rebound, even criticizing the Fed on Twitter on Thursday for being too glum. But the central bank reiterated its recent caution in the report, highlighting that challenges to the economy remain even as states reopen.

“Importantly, some small businesses and highly leveraged firms might have to shut down permanently or declare bankruptcy, which could have longer-lasting repercussions on productive capacity,” the report said.

The Fed noted that employers had cut about 20 million employees from payrolls since February, reversing a decade of job gains. While the unemployment rate eased to 13.3% in May after jumping to 14.7% in April, the Fed called that rate “still very elevated” and said workers in low-wage jobs, who are disproportionately from minority groups, had been hit especially hard.

Fed FRB、連邦政府
gross domestic product 国内総生産
decade 10年
credit histories 信用情報
flagged 旗を掲げられた、フラグを立てられた
leveraged レバレッジを効かせた
payrolls 給料支払い簿

6/15(月)の放送

CDC Calls for Masks at Large Gatherings, Warning of Crowd Risks

著者:Abby Goodnough
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

Three months after the country’s top public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, abruptly stopped holding regular briefings on the coronavirus pandemic, its director, Dr. Robert Redfield, restarted them Friday amid growing calls for the agency to claim a more prominent role in the virus response.

The CDC also released a new guidance document, “Considerations for Events and Gatherings,” that defines as “highest risk” large gatherings where it is difficult for people to stay at least 6 feet apart, and where attendees travel from outside the local area.

The guidance was issued as people around the country are participating in large outdoor protests of racial injustice and police brutality, and as President Donald Trump prepares to resume large political rallies. It advises that staff members at large events be required to wear face coverings and that attendees be encouraged to do so — in keeping with previous CDC guidance on wearing face coverings in public.

Redfield ceded most of the question-and-answer session to Dr. Jay Butler, the agency’s deputy director for infectious diseases. Butler offered cautious responses to several contentious questions, including “whether CDC is saying political rallies are OK right now.” Next week, Trump is planning to hold his first rally in more than three months in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“The guideline is really for any type of gathering,” Butler said, “whether it’s the backyard barbecue or something larger, and it’s not intended to endorse any particular type of event.”

He added that the guidelines were “not requirements” but suggestions for keeping people safe.

In addition to its guidance for holding gatherings, the agency released recommendations and factors to consider when resuming activities like going to the bank, holding cookouts and going to the gym.

Asked about rising rates of infection in Arizona and a number of other states, Butler emphasized that it was important to distinguish between increased case counts being a result of more testing and a new outbreak. But hospitalizations and positive test rates are also rising in several of the states seeing spikes in infection, indicating that the virus is spreading in some communities as they reopen.

Redfield emphasized that “aggressive” testing of certain high-risk populations, including nursing home residents, prison inmates and clinics that serve the urban poor, will be crucial going forward.

rally 集会
 hold briefings 状況報告会を行う
 *hold a rally; hold gatherings 集会を開く
 hold cookouts BBQをする
contentious (問題などが) 物議をかもす
 *(動)contend 戦う、論争する(con共に+ tend奮闘する)
endorse 推薦する
 *(名)endorsement(広告で商品などを) ほめること, 推奨
spike(s) 急激な上昇
 *(復習6/9記事) cause a spike 急激に増加させる

Beijing Shuts Down Seafood Market After Dozens Test Positive for Coronavirus

著者:Vivian Wang and Elaine Yu
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

Beijing authorities shut down a major seafood and produce market and locked down several residential complexes Saturday after 53 people tested positive for the coronavirus in the city, renewing fears that China’s grip on the pandemic is not yet secure.

Nearly everyone who tested positive had worked or shopped at the Xinfadi market, a wholesale market on the city’s south side that sells seafood, fruit and vegetables, according to the Beijing health commission.

More than 10,000 people work at the market, which supplies 90% of Beijing’s fruits and vegetables, according to the state media. The virus was reportedly detected on cutting boards for imported salmon there.

The developments prompted the authorities to temporarily shut down the market, to partly or completely close five others in the capital, and to lock down 11 nearby residential communities and nine schools that had reopened after lockdowns that were put in place to curb the virus.

Beijing is also tightening traffic controls into and out of the city, barring interprovincial tour groups and suspending sporting events, according to official announcements and local news reports. Officials had already said Friday that they would suspend plans for students in first, second and third grade throughout the city to return to school Monday.

China has taken aggressive steps to prevent a second wave, including testing almost all of the 11 million residents of Wuhan, where the outbreak began. The authorities appear to be especially wary of an outbreak in the capital. Before the new cases, Beijing had not reported any new locally transmitted cases for eight weeks.

Seven of the 53 people who tested positive over the previous three days had shown symptoms, while 46 were asymptomatic, according to Beijing health officials. Of the seven people with symptoms, six had not left Beijing in the previous two weeks, officials said.

The Beijing health commission said that at least three of the seven were employees of the Xinfadi market, including a 50-year-old purchaser for the market who was in serious condition and a 35-year-old salesman. Another three had visited the market, according to the state media.

All 10,000 workers at the Xinfadi market will eventually be tested, according to The Beijing News, a state-controlled newspaper. Officials have already tested more than 1,900 workers at markets across the city, according to the city’s health commission.

produce (名) 生産物、農産物
 *product(類) 製品
prompt (動)  (物・事が)(行動・言葉などを)引き出す、誘発する
wary of 慎重な、用心深い(類)careful
 *(復習:6/10記事)
asymptomatic (人・病気が)自覚症状のない
 *a- ―が無い、
 a + symptomatic = without symptom(症状)がない

6/16(火)の放送

‘This Virus Is Not Going to Rest,’ Disease Expert Says

著者:Pam Belluck
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

The coronavirus won’t be loosening its grip on the United States any time soon, leading infectious disease experts said Sunday. They are also uncertain how the viral spread will be affected by the patchwork of states reopening businesses and by large events like protests and President Donald Trump’s upcoming campaign rallies.

“This virus is not going to rest” until it infects about 60% to 70% of the population, Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Experts have estimated that without a vaccine, about 70% of the population will need to be infected and develop immunity in order to stop the virus’ spread, a concept called herd immunity. The number of confirmed U.S. cases now exceeds 2 million, less than 1% of the U.S. population, according to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Joseph Fair, a virologist and epidemiologist who recently recovered from a serious bout of COVID-19, echoed that view on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“Once it gets so ingrained in the population, there’s not a point where we can come back from that other than having a vaccine in place,” said Fair, who is a medical contributor to NBC News.

Osterholm said that recent data show the rate of new cases has been level in eight states, increasing in 22 states and decreasing in the rest. The increase is not simply because of more widely available testing, the experts said, noting that an especially worrisome development is a rise in hospitalizations in several states.

“At this point, hospitals are at risk of getting overwhelmed and that is basically signaling to me that those states are already behind,” said Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, medical director of the special pathogens unit at Boston University School of Medicine, who also appeared on the NBC News program Sunday.

The CDC recently projected that by July 4, U.S. coronavirus deaths will likely jump from the current level of about 115,000 to somewhere between 124,000 and 140,000.

Bhadelia said the rise in cases in some states, especially in the South and West, suggested that “we opened too early in those states. We didn’t have the ability to basically trace down those chains of transmission and stop them once people started mingling again.”

viral ウイルスの
 [接尾語 -al(〜の): financial, political]
 [頻出表現! go viral (バズる)]
rallies 集会
 [語源: re(再び)+ally(集まる)]
 [親戚:ally(同盟国、味方)]
bout 病気、ひと勝負、一仕事
 [語源:roundabout 一周分
    (ラウンドアバウト=環状交差点)]
overwhelmed 圧倒される
 [対義語:underwhelm 期待を裏切る]
pathogens 病原体
 [語源:patho(ペーソス)+gen(生む)
    → 苦しみを生む → 病原体]
mingling(mingle) 入り交じる、親しく交わる

Civil Rights Law Protects Gay and Transgender Workers, Supreme Court Rules

著者:Adam Liptak
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a landmark civil rights law protects gay and transgender workers from workplace discrimination, handing the movement for LGBT equality a stunning victory.

The vote was 6-3, with Justice Neil Gorsuch writing the majority opinion. He was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

The case concerned Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars employment discrimination based on race, religion, national origin and sex. The question for the justices was whether that last prohibition — discrimination “because of sex”— applies to many millions of gay and transgender workers.

The decision, covering two cases, was the court’s first on LGBT rights since the retirement in 2018 of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinions in all four of the court’s major gay rights decisions.

Those decisions were grounded in constitutional law. The new cases, by contrast, concerned statutory interpretation.

Lawyers for employers and the Trump administration argued that the common understanding of sex discrimination in 1964 was bias against women or men and did not encompass discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. If Congress wanted to protect gay and transgender workers, they said, it could pass a new law.

Lawyers for the workers responded that discrimination against employees based on sexual orientation or transgender status must as a matter of logic take account of sex.

The court considered two sets of cases. The first concerned a pair of lawsuits from gay men who said they were fired because of their sexual orientation. The second was about a suit from a transgender woman, Aimee Stephens, who said her employer fired her when she announced that she would embrace her gender identity at work.

Most federal appeals courts have interpreted Title VII to exclude sexual orientation discrimination. But two of them, in New York and Chicago, have ruled that discrimination against gay men and lesbians is a form of sex discrimination.

landmark 画期的な、目標の
Civil Rights Act of 1964 1964年の公民権法
bars 禁じる、妨げる
 [語源:bar(かんぬきの棒)]
statutory 法令による
encompass 含む
 [語源:en(つくる)+compass(コンパス=円)
  →円の中に含む
sexual orientation 性的指向
 [語源:Orient(日が昇る方角、東)
  →東に向きを合わせる]
 [親戚:オリエンテーション(方向を揃える会)]
federal appeals courts 連邦控訴裁判所
 federal *6/12&6/14の復習
 appeal=アピールする→控訴

6/17(水)の放送

USTA Plans to Move Forward With U.S. Open Amid Pandemic

著者:Christopher Clarey
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

Despite major challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Tennis Association is set to announce this week that it will hold the 2020 U.S. Open with the support of the men’s and women’s tours.

The tournament is expected to run as originally scheduled from Aug. 31 to Sept. 13, but without spectators, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Formal government approval still needs to be secured for the Open to take place, Chris Widmaier, a USTA spokesman, said Monday.

“From the beginning, we’ve built this plan in a very collaborative manner,” he said, adding that the USTA had consulted regularly with medical and security experts. “We also recognize in order to move forward that we need government approval, approval from the state of New York and any other entity.”

Even if the tournament is soon confirmed, more than two months will remain before it begins, and outside forces, including the path of the virus and global travel restrictions, may still scuttle the USTA’s plans. The field is also likely to be thinner than usual, with athletes making individual decisions about whether to compete.

Still, after lengthy meetings and negotiations with tennis’s other governing bodies, the USTA intends to proceed with the U.S. Open in its traditional late-summer dates with the support of its primary sponsors and ESPN, which is paying more than $70 million annually in rights fees to the organization mainly to televise the tournament.

“Our team has literally worked around the clock to figure out a way we can have the U.S. Open and do it in a safe way,” Patrick Galbraith, president of the USTA, said in a conference call with more than 400 men’s players and coaches on Wednesday.

The start of the French Open has been postponed until late September. Wimbledon was canceled for the first time since 1945.

There has been considerable resistance from international players to the centralized U.S. Open plan.

Players will be subject to frequent coronavirus testing. Many will be lodged together at a hotel outside Manhattan, and some restrictions are expected to be placed on their movement to protect their health.

amid 〜の真っ最中に、〜の渦中に
spectators 観客、見物人
regularly 定期的に
scuttle 〜を断念する、やめる
literally 文字通りに、まさに
work around the clock 昼夜通して、24時間体制で働く

The 2021 Oscars Will Be Delayed

著者:Brooks Barnes
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

LOS ANGELES — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Monday that it would push back the next Oscars ceremony to April 25 from Feb. 28, citing the coronavirus pandemic. The postponement, the fourth since the Academy Awards were introduced in 1929, could prompt the Golden Globes and other entertainment award shows to recalibrate.

The eligibility window for best picture consideration at the coming Academy Awards was extended to Feb. 28 instead of Dec. 31. to make up for the closing of theaters between March and June. The academy did not say whether the April 25 show on ABC would involve the usual red carpet and live audience.

“Our hope, in extending the eligibility period and our awards date, is to provide the flexibility filmmakers need to finish and release their films without being penalized for something beyond anyone’s control,” David Rubin, the academy’s president, and Dawn Hudson, the organization’s chief executive, said in a statement. “For over a century, movies have played an important role in comforting, inspiring and entertaining us during the darkest of times.”

The academy consulted with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health in selecting a new date for the Oscars. “We find ourselves in uncharted territory this year and will continue to work with our partners at the academy to ensure next year’s show is a safe and celebratory event,” Karey Burke, president of ABC Entertainment, said in a statement.

The Oscars telecast is a big business, generating 83% of the academy’s roughly $150 million in annual revenue. ABC controls broadcast rights until 2028 at a cost of about $75 million a year. The network seeks nearly $3 million per 30-second commercial.

Awards form a crucial part of the Hollywood economy. The Oscars telecast, at its core, is a colossal marketing tool. While viewership has declined sharply in recent years, the Oscars show still attracts an audience of more than 23 million people.

recalibrate 再調整する、修正する
beyond anyone’s control 誰にも制御できない、不可抗力の
darkest of times 最も状況が暗い時期に
uncharted 未知の
celebratory 祝う、祝賀の
roughly 大凡、大体

6/18(木)の放送

Common Drug Reduces Coronavirus Deaths, Scientists Report

著者:Benjamin Mueller and Roni Caryn Rabin
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

LONDON — In a hopeful sign of progress amid an expanding pandemic, scientists at the University of Oxford said on Tuesday that an inexpensive and commonly available drug reduced deaths in patients with severe COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.

If the finding is borne out, the drug, a steroid called dexamethasone, would be the first treatment shown to reduce mortality in the sickest patients. Had doctors been using the drug to treat the sickest COVID-19 patients in Britain from the beginning of the pandemic, up to 5,000 deaths could have been prevented, the researchers estimated.

In severe cases, the virus directly attacks cells lining the patient’s airways and lungs. But the infection also can prompt an overwhelming immune reaction that is just as harmful. Three-quarters of hospitalized COVID-19 patients receive some form of oxygen.

The drug appears to reduce inflammation caused by the immune system, protecting the tissues. In the study, dexamethasone reduced deaths of patients on ventilators by one-third, and deaths of patients on oxygen by one-fifth.

Until now, hospitals worldwide have had nothing to offer these desperate, dying patients, and the prospect of a lifesaving treatment close at hand was met with something like elation by doctors.

“Assuming that when it goes through peer review it stands — and these are well-established researchers — it’s a huge breakthrough, a major breakthrough,” said Dr. Sam Parnia, a pulmonologist and associate professor of medicine at the Grossman School of Medicine at New York University.

But the report also comes on the heels of a series of blunders and retractions in the scientific literature. While hospitals in the United Kingdom were able to begin treating severely ill COVID-19 patients with dexamethasone Tuesday, many experts in the United States demanded to see the data and the study itself, which have not yet been peer reviewed or published.

“It will be great news if dexamethasone, a cheap steroid, really does cut deaths by 1/3 in ventilated patients with COVID19,” Dr. Atul Gawande wrote on Twitter, “but after all the retractions and walk backs, it is unacceptable to tout study results by press release without releasing the paper.”

be borne out 立証されている、裏付けられている
airway 気管、気道
ventilator 人工呼吸器
close at hand 間近に迫っている、すぐ近くの
pulmonologist 呼吸器内科医、肺学者
come on the heels of ~の後に続いて起こる
retraction 撤回、引っ込ますこと

Arizona Wildfires Force Hundreds to Evacuate

著者:Bryan Pietsch
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

Wildfires across Arizona have forced hundreds to evacuate their homes, fleeing blazes — including one that has already consumed over 100 square miles — as the state grapples with a spike in confirmed coronavirus infections.

The Bush Fire, around 30 miles northeast of Phoenix, has burned over 64,000 acres since Saturday, according to fire officials. Firefighters will have to battle winds that are expected to reach 20 to 30 mph as well as dry summer heat, with temperatures above 100 in places, said Dee Hines, a fire agency spokesperson.

“That makes for some rapid fire growth — extreme fire behavior,” Hines said of the conditions.

About 1,600 people living east of the fire were ordered on Monday morning to evacuate, with those in another community north of the fire ordered on Tuesday to do so, officials said. Hines said he was not aware of any structures that had been destroyed in the Bush Fire.

The fire started on Saturday after a burning car pulled off State Route 87, setting nearby grass on fire, Hines said. The incident is under investigation, officials said. That highway was closed, along with recreational sites in the area.

Those ordered to evacuate face the challenges of relocating amid a statewide spike in coronavirus cases. Officials instructed evacuees to “avoid close contact with those who are sick” and “practice public health recommendations when relocating.”

Arizona has reported more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases a day over the last several days, with people across the state flocking to bars and clubs after the state’s stay-at-home order expired on May 15. But even as cases began to increase sharply late last month, Gov. Doug Ducey said he would not consider bringing back earlier restrictions.

The Bush Fire comes as firefighters struggle to contain additional fires on opposite sides the state.

The Mangum Fire, north of the Grand Canyon, has burned nearly 30,000 acres near the Utah border and is at 3% containment, while the Bighorn Fire, raging northwest of Tucson, has burned nearly 15,000 acres and is at 30% containment, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

evacuate (ある場所)から避難する
Phoenix フェニックス
investigation 調査
containment 封じ込め

6/19(金)の放送

In China-India Clash, Two Nationalist Leaders With Little Room to Give

著者:Steven Lee Myers, Maria Abi-Habib and Jeffrey Gettleman
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

They are both ambitious, nationalist leaders, eager to assert greater roles for their countries in a turbulent world. With major challenges at home, neither wants to risk losing face, even in a dispute over mountainous territory that is all but desolate.

Xi Jinping of China and Narendra Modi of India probably did not intend to ignite a clash on their border on Monday, high in the Himalayas, that killed 20 Indian troops and may have resulted in Chinese casualties, too. Yet the leaders of the two nuclear-equipped countries now confront a military crisis that could spin dangerously out of control.

“The sovereignty and integrity of India is supreme, and nobody can stop us in defending that,” Modi said Wednesday in a short televised speech, breaking his public silence over the incident. He vowed that “the sacrifice of our soldiers will not be in vain.”

“India wants peace,” he went on, “but if provoked, India is capable of giving a befitting reply.”

The clash, the worst violence between them in 45 years, resulted from policies both leaders have pushed to bolster forces along their 2,100-mile border and to project a muscular image.

“This kind of provocation is aggressive, and we have no choice but to contain it,” Yue Gang, a retired colonel in the People’s Liberation Army, said on Wednesday, blaming border tensions, which flared up in May, on India’s actions and Modi’s political ambitions.

China pledged on Wednesday to avoid a broader conflict, but its foreign minister, Wang Yi, scolded his Indian counterpart in a telephone conversation. He accused India of provoking the clash on Monday night, despite an earlier agreement to withdraw forces from the Galwan Valley, a remote area straddling the disputed frontier.

So far, Modi appears to be projecting toughness while trying to avoid a deeper conflict. Photos in Indian media showed military convoys on the winding roads approaching the disputed region, and local residents described heavier than usual troop movement. Even so, military analysts said that forces had not been put on full alert.

A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, Zhao Lijian, four times on Wednesday sidestepped questions about media reports in India that China had suffered 43 casualties on Monday, including some deaths, saying he had no information to offer. A spokesman for China’s Western Theater Command, which oversees the region, referred to casualties but offered no details.

clash 激突/衝突
room to give 余った空間/譲れるもの
ambitious 大望のある〜
turbulent 騒々しい
sovereignty 主権/統治権
border tensions 国境の緊迫関係/緊張
convoys 護送/護衛

Aunt Jemima to Change Name and Image Over ‘Racial Stereotype’

著者:Tiffany Hsu
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

Aunt Jemima, the popular syrup and pancake-mix brand that marketed itself with imagery of the slavery-era South, will get a new name and image after Quaker Oats, its parent company, acknowledged that its origins were “based on a racial stereotype.”

On Wednesday, the company, owned by PepsiCo, said it was taking “a hard look at our portfolio of brands” as it worked “to make progress toward racial equality through several initiatives.” Packaging changes, first reported by NBC News, will appear toward the end of the year, with the name change coming soon after.

The Aunt Jemima brand, founded in 1889, was built on images of a black female character that promoted a false and nostalgic view of slavery in the United States. A former slave portrayed the character at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, and a white actress known for performing in blackface played Aunt Jemima on a radio series in the 1930s.

In magazine advertisements throughout much of the 20th century, the character was shown serving white families. Aunt Jemima went through several redesigns over the decades. In 1989, Quaker Oats substantially revised the character’s look, adding pearl earrings and a lace collar.

“While work has been done over the years to update the brand in a manner intended to be appropriate and respectful, we realize those changes are not enough,” Kristin Kroepfl, Quaker’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement.

PepsiCo bought Quaker Oats in 2001, inheriting the Aunt Jemima brand. Ramon Laguarta, the chief executive of PepsiCo, wrote in an article in Fortune this week that “the journey for racial equality has long been part of our company’s DNA.”

The Aunt Jemima brand has its roots in a 19th-century blackface minstrel song, “Old Aunt Jemima,” that expressed nostalgia for the South in the slavery era. The character “is commodified racism,” one of “many racialized caricatures” that were “the creation of the white imagination” during the rise of the marketing industry, said Gregory D. Smithers, an American history professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.

After the Quaker Oats announcement Wednesday, the food and candy giant Mars, the owner of Uncle Ben’s, said it was “evaluating all possibilities” concerning the brand.

take a hard look じっくり見る/しっかり見直す
nostalgic 懐かしい (使うタイミングに注意!)
blackface ブラックフェイス/黒塗り
substantially 大いに/かなり
caricatures 戯画

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