Readable, teachable news.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Fidel Castro was the most important political figure in Cuba from 1959 to 2006. In those nearly 50 years, Castro first held the position of Prime Minister (1959 – 1976) and later President (1977 – 2006).
However, many people would argue that a more appropriate title for Castro would be dictator. (A dictator is a political leader who holds unlimited power and does not allow opportunities for new governments to form, as in an election).
Leonard Cohen, one of Canada’s best-known songwriters and poets, has died at the age of 82.
He wasn’t “born with the gift of a golden voice,” as one of his songs famously put it. In fact, his voice was deep, gravelly and could even said to be tuneless. But that was part of his charm.
When the Cubs won the World Series last week, they made history.
Some people say it was one of the most exciting baseball games ever played.
The Chicago Cubs, hadn’t won the World Series in 108 years. That’s one of the longest “droughts” in sports history.
Americans go to the polls on November 8.
Either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will (unless something very unlikely happens) become President of the United States. That is, arguably, the most powerful job in the world. No political party is more “right or wrong” than another–they are simply groups of people who hold specific beliefs and even then, not everyone who belongs to that party will agree with everything their party supports.)
It was a great way to start.
Auston Matthews, 19, made history on Oct. 12 by scoring four goals in his first game in the National Hockey League.
No one in the history of the NHL has ever done that before.
Every sport has an icon: one person who defines what that sport looks, sounds, and feels like. In the boxing world, there is no single fighter who could be said to have a greater claim to that title than Muhammad Ali. Ali changed the sport of boxing, flipped it on its head, and, in-so-doing became the inspiration of all the young boxers who followed in his “butterfly-like” footsteps. But, perhaps, even more impressively, Muhammad Ali changed the way all athletes are regarded.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Washington, DC recently. It was the first time a Canadian PM has paid an official visit to an American President in 20 years. It was an historic occasion.
A Beatles memorabilia collector recently paid nearly $50,000 for a lock of John Lennon’s hair.
On Wednesdays, the Powerball Lottery organization will choose six random numbers. At $1.3B, this week’s Powerball Lottery jackpot is the largest of any lottery jackpot in history.
Canada’s brand-new prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is shaking things up a bit. Justin Trudeau’s cabinet is made up of 15 women and 15 men (plus Trudeau). For the first time in Canada’s history, half of the Prime Minister’s closest advisors are women.
