第一週 同性婚姻

JACKSON, Miss. — The Latest on arguments over a Mississippi law dealing with religious objections to same-sex marriage (all times local):

5:30 p.m.

Attorneys for both sides are expressing confidence after a federal appeals court heard arguments about Mississippi law dealing with religious objections to same-sex marriage.

Three judges from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard the case Monday in Lubbock, Texas.

The Mississippi law would let merchants and government employees cite religious beliefs to deny services to same-sex couples.

A federal district judge blocked it before it could take effect in July 2016.

Roberta Kaplan, an attorney for some of the gay and straight plaintiffs who sued the state, says the law unconstitutionally endorses specific religious beliefs.

The state is represented on appeal by Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based Christian legal group. Attorney Kevin Theriot (TAIR-ee-oh) says the law protects people from government discrimination against their religious beliefs.

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2:44 a.m.

A federal appeals court is hearing arguments about a Mississippi law that would let merchants and government employees cite religious beliefs to deny services to same-sex couples.

Who:JACKSON, Miss.

Where:Mississippi

What:Attorneys for both sides are expressing confidence after a federal appeals court heard arguments about Mississippi law dealing with religious objections to same-sex marriage.

Keyword 

arguments 爭論

merchants 商人

district 行政區

unconstitutionally 無意識的

第二週 泰王蒲美蓬駕崩

BANGKOK — Concern for the health of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand on Wednesday prompted the country’s prime minister to return abruptly to Bangkok, caused Thai stocks to fall sharply and sent well-wishers to the hospital where the 88-year-old monarch was being treated.

A government spokesman said that Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, chief of the junta that runs the country, returned to meet with Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, the heir to the throne, who lives most of the time in Germany.

The country, which has been under military rule since 2014, is deeply polarized, but King Bhumibol has been a unifying figure, even in ill health. The military’s authority derives from the king, and there is a sense of national anxiety about his condition and what will happen when he dies.

All of the king’s children — the prince and his three sisters — were reported to have arrived on Wednesday at Siriraj Hospital, where King Bhumibol, one of the world’s longest-reigning monarchs, has been confined for most of the past few years. He last left the hospital in January.

The royal palace announced on Sunday that the king, a widely revered figure who suffers from kidney failure and receives hemodialysis to filter his blood, was in unstable condition and that he was breathing with the help of a ventilator.

Who:Bhumibol Adulyadej 

When:last left the hospital in January

What: a widely revered figure who suffers from kidney failure and receives hemodialysis to filter his blood, was in unstable condition and that he was breathing with the help of a ventilator.

Where:Thailand

Keyword 

abruptly 突然地

hemodialysis 血液透析

ventilator 通風機

第三週 丹麥女孩

Eddie Redmayne portrays the artist and transgender pioneer Lili Elbe in “The Danish Girl.” A young soccer player gets her mojo back in “The Kicks,” adapted from books by the Olympic gold medalist Alex Morgan. And “The Day Before” ventures inside the fashion atelier of Sonia Rykiel, who died on Thursday.

What’s on TV

THE DANISH GIRL (2015) 9 p.m. on HBO. Eddie Redmayne plays Einar Wegener and Alicia Vikander is his wife, Gerda, perfectly matched painters living in mutual devotion in bohemian 1926 Copenhagen. But what begins as a game — Einar’s occasional foray into wearing women’s clothing and then the acquisition of a female persona, Lili — triggers an existential transformation. Realizing the truth about himself, he sets out to physically alter reality. Lili’s “bravery makes this film a welcome tribute to a heroic forerunner of the current movement for transgender rights,” A. O. Scott wrote in The New York Times of Tom Hooper’s fact-based drama. Lili Elbe was one of the first people to attempt sex-reassignment surgery. And Ms. Vikander, who won as Oscar as Gerda, “acts from the inside out, with an openness and spontaneity that is especially rare in movies like this one.”

HUMAN RESOURCES 7:30 p.m. on Pivot. This kooky workplace reality series follows Tom Szaky, the founder and chief executive of TerraCycle, a recycling company in Trenton, and his army of thinkers and doers whose mission is to eliminate waste — all of it. In Season 3, they take on condoms and toiletries.

STOSSEL: LIBERTARIAN TOWN HALL 9 p.m. on Fox Business. John Stossel interviews Gary Johnson, the Libertarian presidential candidate, and his running mate, William F. Weld, about their party’s platform as well as economic, social and defense issues.

What’s Streaming

THE KICKS on Amazon. The soccer player Alex Morgan, most recently seen at the Rio Olympics, wrote the books spun into this new live-action children’s series. Sixx Orange plays Devin Burke, a soccer star until her family moved to California, where her new team, the Kicks, is on a losing streak — and she begins to think she is too. But not for long, once she regains her confidence after losing her lucky headband, copes with an injury and leads a match against the boys’ team.

Who:Eddie Redmayne
When:2015 9 p.m
What:portrays the artist and transgender pioneer Lili Elbe

Keyword
portrays:畫像
ventures:冒險
bohemian:波希米亞人

South China Sea

BEIJING — An international tribunal in The Hague delivered a sweeping rebuke on Tuesday of China’s behavior in the South China Sea, including its construction of artificial islands, and found that its expansive claim to sovereignty over the waters had no legal basis.

The landmark case, brought by the Philippines, was seen as an important crossroads in China’s rise as a global power and in its rivalry with the United States, and it could force Beijing to reconsider its assertive tactics in the region or risk being labeled an international outlaw. It was the first time the Chinese government had been summoned before the international justice system.

In its most significant finding, the tribunal rejected China’s argument that it enjoys historic rights over most of the South China Sea. That could give the governments of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam more leverage in their own maritime disputes with Beijing.

The tribunal also said that China had violated international law by causing “irreparable harm” to the marine environment, endangering Philippine ships and interfering with Philippine fishing and oil exploration.

“It’s an overwhelming victory. We won on every significant point,” said the Philippines’ chief counsel in the case, Paul S. Reichler.

What:the tribunal rejected China’s argument that it enjoys historic rights over most of the South China Sea

Where:Philippines

Who:Paul S.Reichler

Key:

sovereignty 獨立國

rivalry 對抗

irreparable 不能挽回的

Pokémon Go

Since its introduction this month, the app known as Pokémon Go has sent millions of players chasing after imaginary creatures in parks, city streets and, occasionally, ditches and trees.

But according to two New York State lawmakers, the game has the potential to lead children to a more frightening locale: the homes of sexual predators.

In an informal investigation by Senators Jeffrey D. Klein and Diane J. Savino, staff members took a list of 100 registered sex offenders across New York City and compared it with locations where Pokémon Go players could collect virtual items or use other game features.

In 59 cases, those locations were within half a block of offenders’ homes. The staff members, who played the game for two weeks, also found 57 Pokémon — which appear on players’ phones as if they exist in the real world — near the offenders’ homes, according to a report the senators released on Friday. Such overlap has been reported in other states, includingCalifornia and North Carolina.

In New York, those discoveries  prompted Mr. Klein, a Democrat who represents parts of the Bronx and Westchester County, and Ms. Savino, a Staten Island Democrat, to propose two pieces of legislation, scheduled to be introduced next week.

Who:Senators Jeffrey D. Klein and Diane J. Savino

What:also found 57 Pokémon — which appear on players’ phones as if they exist in the real world — near the offenders’ homes

Where:New York State 

Key:

occasionally 偶爾

potential 潛力

predators 食肉動物

overlap 重疊