Practice story

Waiting at the School Gate

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Nina waits in the right place to meet her son after school.

Practice story

A Walk in the Park

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Wit takes a short walk after dinner.

Practice story

Changing a Work Shift

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Fah asks a coworker to exchange shifts so she can attend a family event.

Practice story

Making a Clinic Appointment

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Arun calls a clinic and chooses an appointment that fits his work schedule.

Easy news

Special Weather Statement issued July 11 at 11:58AM CDT by NWS Huntsville AL

At 1158 AM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near Bridgeport, moving east at 20 mph. HAZARD...Wind gusts up to 40 mph and pea size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around unsecured objects. Minor hail damage to vegetation is possible. Locations impacted include... Bridgeport, Fabius, and Higdon.

Easy news

Dating can be hard in South Korea - so the monks stepped in

Dating can be hard in South Korea. A group of monks hope a 30-hour rural retreat can help.

Real news

Special Weather Statement issued July 11 at 12:07PM CDT by NWS Mobile AL

At 1206 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over Summerdale, or near Foley. This storm was nearly stationary. HAZARD...Wind gusts up to 40 mph and pea size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is possible. Locations impacted include... Foley, Robertsdale, Loxley, Summerdale, and Silverhill.

Real news

Iran must pledge to stop shooting at ships in Strait of Hormuz, US officials say

US media say Iran has told US officials an attack on ships crossing the strait early this week was "a mistake".

Advanced real news

A ship exploded in Lake Huron 143 years ago. Now, a team is trying to find its wreckage

A group of marine archaeologists and volunteers will take to Boiler Beach near Kincardine, Ont., this summer to learn more about the SS Erie Belle steamboat explosion from 1883.

Advanced real news

AUTOPILOT VQA: Benchmarking Vision-Language Models for Incident-Centric Dashcam Understanding

Recent advances in Vision-Language Models, Large Language Models, and Multimodal Large Language Models have improved autonomous driving tasks such as scene understanding, decision making, trajectory prediction, and visual question answering. However, evaluating whether these models can reliably reason about safety-critical incidents remains challenging. To address this gap, we present AUTOPILOT-VQA, an incident-centric visual question answering benchmark for dashcam video understanding. The dataset evaluates different systems through structured questions designed around real-world driving incidents and near-incidents. The benchmark covers diverse safety-relevant categories, including weather and lighting conditions, traffic environment, road layout, road surface state, signage, involved entities, accident occurrence, impact location, and avoidability-related reasoning. By requiring models to answer grounded questions about both contextual scene properties and event-level incident details, AUTOPILOT-VQA moves beyond object recognition toward temporally grounded, safety-aware reasoning. The dataset is released as part of the AUTOPILOT CVPR 2026 competition and provides a standardized benchmark for assessing the reliability of autonomous driving systems in different scenarios. Our benchmark support developments for more interpretable, robust, and safety-conscious vision-language systems for real-world autonomous driving.

Practice story

A Broken Cup

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Lina cleans the kitchen safely after a cup breaks.

Practice story

The Early Bus

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Joe leaves home early and reaches work before the meeting.

Practice story

Completing a School Form

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Beam asks the school office about a section of a form she does not understand.

Practice story

A Card Left in the Machine

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Noi contacts the bank quickly after an ATM keeps her card.

Easy news

Special Weather Statement issued July 10 at 2:01PM EDT by NWS Wakefield VA

At 201 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over Longwood University, moving east at 25 mph. HAZARD...Wind gusts up to 40 mph and pea size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around unsecured objects. Minor hail damage to vegetation is possible. This strong thunderstorm will be near... Rice around 205 PM EDT. Jetersville around 230 PM EDT. Other locations impacted by this storm include Raines Tavern, Angola, Rodophil, Moran, Paineville, Kingsville, Maplewood, Reeds, Stoddert, and Deatonville.

Easy news

Special Weather Statement issued July 10 at 1:58PM EDT by NWS Blacksburg VA

At 158 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking a cluster of strong thunderstorms over Leesville, or over Hurt, moving east at 30 mph. HAZARD...Pea size hail and wind gusts up to 30 mph. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Wind gusts may knock over loose objects. Locations impacted include... Altavista... Hurt... Huddleston... Hodges... Leesville... Gladys... and Long Island.

Real news

Vicious storm in central Alberta results in 2 tornadoes, sends 3 people to hospital

Alberta RCMP spokesperson Const. Sandra Geiger told CBC News that officers were called to the area around 8:30 p.m. after reports of a tornado.

Real news

Wildfire in southern Spain leaves at least 12 dead and 23 missing

A local official said four of the victims may be British after a fire broke out near Los Gallardos, Almería.

Advanced real news

Rates of gun-related intimate partner violence rising: StatsCan

Rates of intimate partner violence involving a firearm increased significantly between 2010 and 2024, according to new research released by Statistics Canada Wednesday.

Advanced real news

Court strikes down confidentiality clause for air travel complaints process

The Canadian Transportation Agency's complaint resolution process, in place since 2023, had prevented passengers and airlines from publicly disclosing the result of complaints. Airlines argued those cases involved sensitive information, but an Ontario judge said in a ruling today that the confidentiality rule wasn't necessary.

Practice story

Change at the Market

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

May checks her change after buying bananas.

Practice story

At the Pharmacy

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Ben asks the pharmacist for help with a small cut.

Practice story

Leaving a Phone for Repair

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Golf explains a phone problem and asks about the repair cost.

Practice story

Checking In at a Hotel

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Fern checks her booking details and asks about breakfast at a hotel.

Easy news

Special Weather Statement issued July 9 at 4:08PM CDT by NWS Dodge City KS

At 408 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near Mullinville. This thunderstorm was nearly stationary. HAZARD...Wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around unsecured objects. This storm will remain over mainly rural areas of east central Ford and northwestern Kiowa Counties.

Easy news

Beaverlodge RCMP issue Amber Alert for 6-year-old boy

Police say Lanakai Morrison, 6, was taken on Tuesday. He may be with his mother, 35-year-old Krista Morrison. Daniel Ludwig, 35, and Karl Morrison, 4, may be travelling with them.

Real news

Agon: Competitive Cross-Model RL with Implicit Rival Grading of Reasoning

Reinforcement learning from verifiable rewards (e.g. GRPO) is the engine behind today's reasoning models, yet it grades only the final answer. On hard problems this trains models to write more rather than to think better, since the trace itself is never graded and no label for good thinking exists. We introduce Agon, which makes two competing models each other's graders. Both attempt the same problem; in alternating roles, one drafts a solution and the other reads it while solving, and each is rewarded for out-solving the other. To win, a model must out-reason a rival that has seen its work, so reasoning is judged implicitly during training, with no process labels and no reward model. Because both models are optimized, each faces a progressively stronger rival, which single-model RL cannot provide. The two need only be comparably strong and behaviorally different. At inference the pair deploys as it trains, a two-stage cascade in which one model drafts and the other answers after reading the draft. On the hard split of DeepMath with Qwen3, this doubles GRPO's pass@1, roughly eight times the gain of an untrained Mixture-of-Agents pass over the same base. The ordering replicates on competitive-programming code and across model families (Qwen3.5, Gemma 4). For now the models talk in text; the next step is to let them reason together in latent space.

Real news

$8M settlement proposed in beef price-fixing class action

Those who bought beef after 2015 could be eligible for a share of nearly $8 million as part of a proposed settlement with companies over allegations of price-fixing. The deal still needs to be approved by the courts.

Advanced real news

Jackdaw owner says gas field will 'not materially influence' climate change

The new assessment was required by the industry regulator, after it found several areas had not been adequately addressed in a previous submission.

Advanced real news

Court strikes down confidentiality clause for air travel complaints process

The Canadian Transportation Agency's complaint resolution process, in place since 2023, had prevented passengers and airlines from publicly disclosing the result of complaints. Airlines argued those cases involved sensitive information, but an Ontario judge said in a ruling today that the confidentiality rule wasn't necessary.

Practice story

Meeting a New Neighbor

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Suda welcomes the new person who moves next door.

Practice story

Laundry Before the Rain

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Anan brings his clean clothes inside before rain arrives.

Practice story

Changing a Train Ticket

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Dan changes his train after learning that his meeting will end late.

Practice story

Sending a Parcel

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Yui prepares a parcel and chooses a delivery option at the post office.

Easy news

Special Weather Statement issued July 8 at 2:42PM MDT by NWS Pocatello ID

At 241 PM MDT, Doppler radar was tracking a cluster of strong thunderstorms 12 miles west of Oakley Reservoir, moving east at 20 mph. HAZARD...Wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph and nickel size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around unsecured objects. Minor hail damage to outdoor objects is possible. Locations impacted include... Bostetter Ranger Station.

Easy news

How Esports World Cup moved from Saudi Arabia to Paris in 8 weeks

The Esports World Cup gets going in Paris after a last-minute move from Saudi Arabia. Is it any less controversial?

Real news

US strikes target Iranian military boats

The US has launched the strikes on Iran in response to attacks on three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

Real news

Rogers cuts 230 jobs, closes radio stations in Vancouver, Calgary, Halifax and Kitchener

Telecom giant says its eliminating 230 jobs across Rogers Sports & Media, with 80 jobs gone as six radio stations are closed across Canada.

Advanced real news

Severe Thunderstorm Warning issued July 8 at 2:43PM MDT until July 8 at 3:15PM MDT by NWS Billings MT

At 243 PM MDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 13 miles northwest of Melstone, or 26 miles northeast of Roundup, moving southeast at 20 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. Locations impacted include... Melstone and Musselshell.

Advanced real news

Trying to avoid cyclosporiasis? Wash your hands, wash your produce

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Kali Kniel, professor of microbial food safety at the University of Delaware, about recent outbreaks of cyclosporiasis across the U.S.

Practice story

Returning a Library Book

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Dao returns a library book on her way home.

Practice story

A Low Phone Battery

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Kiet charges his phone before an important call.

Practice story

Moving a Dentist Appointment

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Pat moves an appointment after his work schedule changes.

Practice story

A Phone Call from the Driver

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Mee gives clear directions when a delivery driver cannot find her building.

Easy news

Special Weather Statement issued July 7 at 5:10PM EDT by NWS Jacksonville FL

At 509 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking a cluster of strong thunderstorms over Hilliard, moving east at 10 mph. HAZARD...Wind gusts around 40 mph. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around unsecured objects. Locations impacted include... St. Marys, Kingsland, Fernandina Beach, Hilliard, Callahan, Jacksonville International Arpt, Kings Bay Base, Yulee, Kings Ferry, and St. George.

Easy news

Life after space is a journey all astronauts must figure out — and Jeremy Hansen's up next

What does an astronaut do for an encore? Teach, write or enter politics — to name a few options.

Real news

Rogers cuts 230 jobs, closes radio stations in Vancouver, Calgary, Halifax and Kitchener

Telecom giant says its eliminating 230 jobs across Rogers Sports & Media, with 80 jobs gone as six radio stations are closed across Canada.

Real news

Trump revives argument that U.S. should control Greenland as NATO leaders gather

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the U.S., not Denmark, should control Greenland, reviving a stance that has ‌caused tensions among NATO allies just as leaders of the alliance gathered for a summit in Turkey.

Advanced real news

International Olympic Committee lifts Russia suspension ahead of 2028 LA Games

The International Olympic Committee advised sports bodies to end a three-year program vetting Russians for neutral status ahead of qualifying events for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Advanced real news

Resistance and revenge - Iran wanted to send a message with its farewell to Khamenei

Three days of public mourning in Tehran was a political spectacle Iran's leaders wanted the world to see, writes the BBC's international correspondent Lyse Doucet.

Practice story

The Lunch Box

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Pim finds the lunch box that she left at home.

Practice story

The Raincoat at Work

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Ton remembers his raincoat before he leaves the office.

Practice story

Asking About a Restaurant Order

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Jane politely checks an order when one dish does not arrive.

Practice story

Calling About a Water Leak

Fictional learning story - not real newsเรื่องอ่านฝึกภาษา แต่งขึ้นเพื่อการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่ใช่ข่าวจริง

Lek reports a leak clearly and helps the landlord arrange a repair.

Easy news

Special Weather Statement issued July 6 at 4:50PM CDT by NWS Jackson MS

At 450 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over Murphy, or 8 miles east of Hollandale, moving southeast at 20 mph. HAZARD...Wind gusts up to 40 mph. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around unsecured objects. This strong thunderstorm will be near... Murphy around 455 PM CDT. Midnight around 500 PM CDT. Louise around 510 PM CDT. Silver City around 515 PM CDT.

Easy news

Severe Thunderstorm Warning issued July 6 at 4:51PM CDT until July 6 at 5:30PM CDT by NWS Little Rock AR

At 451 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Scott, or 8 miles southeast of Downtown Little Rock, moving east at 10 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees. Locations impacted include... Little Rock... North Little Rock... Sherwood... Jacksonville... Lonoke... England... Wrightsville... Keo... Estes... Meto... Protho Junction... Plum Bayou Mounds SP... Sweet Home... McAlmont... Scott... Ironton... Gravel Ridge... Baucum... Bevis Corner... Higgins...

Real news

Some N.L. soccer fans see red after Trump asks for player suspension review

“Who is next? Is the King of England going to withdraw the red card … where does it stop?"

Real news

Saskatchewan village celebrates new beginning without ‘Queen of Canada’ cult

Richmound, Sask., held a street party on Saturday to celebrate starting over after two years living with the Kingdom of Canada cult. They marked the occasion by announcing a year-round greenhouse project.

Advanced real news

Air Canada halts, delays several flight routes to U.S. destinations amid high fuel costs

Air Canada is once again scaling back flights to the U.S. amid high jet fuel costs and lower demand for trips south of the border. Air Canada, WestJet and Air Transat all made cuts to their summer flight capacity to the U.S. earlier this year as the Iran war sent jet fuel prices soaring.

Advanced real news

Summer McIntosh's coach hails 'very important' 200m butterfly world record

Legendary swimming coach Bob Bowman has witnessed and coached many athletes to world records over his illustrious career. But being part of his first one while coaching Canadian swimming superstar Summer McIntosh on Sunday night in Montreal felt a little different for the veteran coach.