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☆ Factbox-Fewer Submarines, More Police Detectives: Highlights of Biden's Budget
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-11 | by ( March | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +4 min

Here are highlights of the proposal:IMMIGRATIONThe proposal includes an increase in funding for immigration-related spending as polling shows voters concerned about U.S.-Mexico border crossings by undocumented migrants. DEFENSEBiden's $895 billion national security budget calls for fewer stealthy F-35 fighter jets and Virginia-class submarines, first reported by Reuters, after a meager 1% increase allowed under caps agreed with Republicans last year left fewer than expected funds. Biden also renewed his demand for funding on border security, Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and other national security issues that has been stalled by Republican congressional leadership for months. CRIMEThe budget allocates $1.2 billion over five years in a new violent crime reduction and prevention fund to support law enforcement agencies, helping them hire new detectives to solve homicides, expand fentanyl seizures and hire prosecutors and forensic specialists. The forecasts were set in November, and officials said the figures would be more optimistic if they were fixed today.

Persons: Joe Biden, Biden, Trevor Hunnicutt, Ahmed Aboulenein, Ted Hesson, Leah Douglas, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: WASHINGTON, Border Patrol, Reuters, Republican, Department of Health, Human Services, Department, Agriculture, Women, Federal Reserve Locations: Mexico, Virginia, Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, U.S

Reliable and affordable food and commodity imports are more important to a net food importer like Kenya than to some other countries. Perhaps more importantly, a critical part of the world's food supply system remains disrupted, undermining food security and raising the underlying costs of cross-border trade. The governments of Kenya and Ukraine are also working together on food security. Meanwhile, Russia's own efforts to play a part in rebuilding food security have been more a public relations exercise than real action. Although Russian sources have claimed that such shipments have begun, there is still little evidence of Russian food aid arriving in Africa.

Persons: Timothy Njagi Njeru, Kalya Kiptiony, Dr Abraham Korir SingOei, William Ruto, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia's, Dr Njeru, Lensa Omune Organizations: Tegemeo Institute, Kenyan, Initiative, Kenya's Ministry of Foreign, Diaspora Affairs, International Food Policy Research Institute, Insider Studios, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Locations: East Africa, Ukraine, Kenya, Russian, Nairobi, Russia, Africa, Horn, Port, Mombasa

☆ You may be eating predigested food. Here’s why
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Sandee Lamotte | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Aleksandr Zubkov/Moment RF/Getty ImagesBypassing the digestive systemMuch like the regurgitated food mother birds feed their babies in the nest, ultraprocessed food is quick and easy to digest, according to experts. “So the question is, which degree of processing remains compatible with human food system sustainability and global health? Some food processing may be goodHumans have processed food for centuries — the first evidence of fermentation was some 13,000 years ago. Alexander Donin/iStockphoto/Getty ImagesThe ingredients used in many ultraprocessed foods, however, have been subjected to much more than a bit of heat. “The other way I put it is that individuals who are trying to control their weight in today’s food environment are fighting an entire food system on their own.

Persons: starchy, “, ”, Chris van Tulleken, van Tulleken, Aleksandr Zubkov, that’s, didn’t, David Katz, ” Katz, we’ve, ’ you’ve, it’s, Kevin Hall, Hall, ” Hall, Giulia Menichetti, Menichetti, Anthony Fardet, Fardet, ” Fardet, Alexander Donin, Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard, ” Nestle Organizations: CNN, Industry, University College London, BBC, Getty, True Health Initiative, National Institute of Diabetes, Diseases, Harvard Medical School, Brigham, Women’s Hospital, Network Science Institute, Northeastern University, French National Institute for Agricultural Research, New York University Locations: Europe, United States, Bethesda , Maryland, Boston, Paris

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s ” plant hardiness zone map ” was updated Wednesday for the first time in a decade, and it shows the impact that climate change will have on gardens and yards across the country. One key figure on the map is the lowest likely winter temperature in a given region, which is important for determining which plants may survive the season. It's calculated by averaging the lowest winter temperatures of the past 30 years. Winter temperatures and nighttime temperatures are rising faster than daytime and summer temperatures, Primack said, which is why the lowest winter temperature is changing faster than the U.S. temperature overall. “There are a lot of downsides to the warmer winter temperatures, too,” said Theresa Crimmins, who studies climate change and growing seasons at the University of Arizona and was not involved in creating the map.

Persons: Chris Daly, Richard Primack, ” Primack, Primack, ”, Theresa Crimmins Organizations: WASHINGTON, The U.S . Department, Oregon, Agricultural Research Service, Boston University, University of Arizona, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: Boston, The, U.S

☆ Japan's farmers are getting too old to work the land. 5G-powered smart tech is doing the heavy lifting for them.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Bella Sayegh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

In remote locations, 5G-powered tech is helping farmers produce crops with the support of experts. Smart farming was introduced into Japanese agriculture in 2020 by NTT AgriTechnology in Chōfu City, Tokyo, for a three-year project. This helps farmers monitor crops for disease and create a harvesting timeline while navigating conditions that can change daily. The next steps for 5G farming involve broadening the scale of these projects so that farmers can monitor more fields at a time, Ahmed and Masakuza said. To do that, companies and local governments will need to continue investing in private, local 5G networks, they added.

Persons: —, Abe Masakuza, Masakuza, Shahid Ahmed, Ahmed, NTT Ahmed Organizations: Private 5G, Service, Agriculture, Forestry, Smart, NTT AgriTechnology, Nippon Telegraph, Telephone, NTT, Hokkaido University, 5G, Farmers, Chōfu, Private Locations: Japan, Chōfu City, Tokyo, Tachikawa , Tokyo, Iwamizawa, Northern Japan

☆ Organic? Free range? What do food labels actually mean?
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-07 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

New York CNN —Navigating the grocery aisle is overwhelming, especially when trying to make sense of food labels. Shoppers who want to know where their food comes from, or how long it will last, have to work even harder. Government agencies have strict guidelines for food safety and nutrition labels on packaged foods. But other information like sell-by dates or animal welfare labels are less regulated — and some are effectively meaningless. Here’s how to know what you’re looking at when you’re reading food labels.

Persons: Scott Olson, “, ”, “ FSIS, Dena Jones, Jones Organizations: New, New York CNN, Nutrition, Shoppers, Government, USDA, ” Companies, Safety, USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, Animal Welfare Institute, Global Animal Partnership Locations: New York, Chicago

☆ Timeline of Racial Wealth Gap
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Policies and practices that have disadvantaged Black Americans generation after generation help explain the racial wealth gap. Black veterans find it much harder to obtain benefits; one study finds Black claimants were twice as likely to have their applications queried. 1877Southern states begin enacting “Jim Crow” laws, which formalize racial segregation. The laws restrict civil liberties and limit job opportunities for Black people as employers relegate Black workers to lower-skilled roles. 1896The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Plessy v Ferguson that racial segregation is permissible.

Persons: Black, vagrancy, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, Andrew Johnson, Jim Crow, Ferguson, Henry Ford, Woodrow Wilson, Smith, Bankhead Organizations: Civil, Union, Bureau, American Medical Association, Prudential, Companies, Black, American Federation of Labor, U.S, Supreme, Plessy, U.S . Department of Agriculture, U.S . Constitution, National Association of Real, Owners Loan Corporation, U.S . Commission, Housing Administration, Federal Housing Administration Locations: U.S, Southern, Black, Louisville , Kentucky, U.S ., Tulsa , Oklahoma, Los Angeles, Chicago, Levittown, New York’s

In May, staff at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland, filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of the Special Counsel (OSC), which protects federal whistleblowers, alleging mismanagement and unsafe work conditions including poor lab ventilation, broken fire alarms and wild temperature swings. After Reuters exclusively reported the complaint, USDA closed one major research building at the site for repairs. Maintenance tasks should be performed on a schedule ranging from daily to annually, the complaint said. BARC staff conduct research on climate change, invasive pests, crop yields and more. Reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by Cynthia OstermanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: BARC, Leah Douglas, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: U.S . Department of Agriculture’s, Research, Staff, U.S . Department, Reuters, Agricultural Research, U.S . Office, USDA, OSC, Occupational Safety, Health Administration, Centers for Disease Control, OSHA, Thomson Locations: Beltsville, Beltsville , Maryland, Legionella, BARC's

Farmers across the agrarian heartland that makes Thailand the world's second-largest rice exporter should be poised to benefit. These pressures on the sector, reported in detail for the first time by Reuters, are squeezing debt-laden Thai farmers despite tens of billions of dollars in subsidies over the past decade. Successive governments have spent 1.2 trillion Thai baht ($33.85 billion) on price and income interventions for rice farmers in the last decade, estimates Somporn. The average Thai farmer's income has dwindled. Unstable income for Thai rice farmersIn the years since Sripai followed her family into the paddy fields, the challenges have multiplied, but current prices offer a rare opportunity.

Persons: Somporn, Sripai, Danai Saengthabthim, Srettha Thavisin, King Chulalongkorn, Nipon Poapongsakorn, Thailand's, KNIT's, Yingluck Shinawatra, Yingluck, Devjyot Ghoshal, Pasit, Katerina Ang, Kay Johnson Organizations: Farmers, Reuters, Research, Knowledge Network Institute of Thailand, Bank for Agriculture, Agricultural Cooperatives, Agriculture, El, National Water Resources, Thailand Development Research, Nipon, Thomson Locations: Thailand, Kaeo, Chai, India, East, Asia, Africa, Rice, Chai Nat, Bangkok, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam

☆ India's rice export ban to hurt millions globally. These countries will be the worst hit
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Lee Ying Shan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

20 Xinhua News Agency | Xinhua News Agency | Getty ImagesIndia's rice export ban could ripple across global rice markets — and millions are expected to be impacted, with Asian and African consumers set to bear the biggest brunt. The scale of people impacted by Indian rice ban will be in millions. Other affected regionsAsia is not the only region hit by India's rice export ban, many African and Middle East nations are also vulnerable. That means up to 40% of India's rice exports are now offline, according to BMI forecasts. India's rice export ban is expected to ripple across global rice markets.

Persons: Mohanty, Samarendu Mohanty, Narendra Modi Organizations: Xinhua News Agency, Getty, Barclays, El Nino, BMI, Fitch Solutions, Workers, International Potato Center, CIP Locations: Nagaon district, India's, Assam, India, Malaysia, Asia, Singapore, Thailand, Pakistan, Vietnam, Philippines, Saharan Africa, East, North Africa, Djibouti, Liberia, Qatar, Gambia, Kuwait, Cambodia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal

☆ Biden heads to Arizona, other Western states to tout his economic policies
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, July 31 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to the key battleground state of Arizona and two other Western states next week as part of a travel blitz by senior administration officials touting recent economic gains and the anniversaries of key legislation. Biden will also host an event at the White House on Aug. 16, the official added. The Biden administration has struggled to sell its message of economic progress to a skeptical American public and connect the dots from the legislation to future jobs and growth. Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Wisconsin with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to highlight broadband infrastructure investments made possible by the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law signed into law 20 months ago. Other cabinet members will visit Maine, Maryland, Nevada, Michigan and California, the official said.

Persons: Joe Biden, Biden, Kamala Harris, Gina Raimondo, Tom Vilsack, Jennifer Granholm, Ali Zaidi, Pete Buttigieg, Andrea Shalal, Mark Potter Organizations: White, White House, Energy, Transportation, Houston Port, Thomson Locations: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Delaware, U.S, Wisconsin, Oregon, Washington, Puerto Rico, Illinois, Houston , Texas, Maine , Maryland , Nevada , Michigan, California

☆ India's tomato prices surge over 300%, sparking theft and turmoil
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Lee Ying Shan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Tomato prices surged 366.86% from 26.76 rupees per kg at the start of the year to 108.92 rupees per kg as of July 11. India is facing a tomato crisis as prices have skyrocketed more than 300% due to extreme weather conditions. Tomato prices surged 341% year-to-date, from 24.68 rupees per kg to 108.92 rupees per kg as of July 11, data from the Department of Consumer Affairs showed. "Due to excess rainfall in these states, tomato [crops have] been highly affected… A large part of the tomato crop has been destroyed due to rains and flood," the council stated. Another popular Indian dish, the Andhra Tomato Kura (tomato curry) is also widely enjoyed by locals.

Persons: Damien Yeo Organizations: Department of Consumer Affairs, National, BMI, Fitch Solutions Locations: Kolkata, India, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka

☆ Spider mite males ‘undress’ their partners to mate ASAP
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-09 | by ( Kate Golembiewski | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Spider mites are tiny arachnids, distant cousins of spiders, smaller than the tip of a standard ballpoint pen. Living together in dense colonies can make for fierce competition in finding a mate, especially because female spider mites only use the sperm from the first male with which they mate. Males will guard females that are nearly mature, so that as soon as the females are set to mate, the males will be ready. While farmers and gardeners often revile spider mites as plant-eating pests, many biologists use them as model organisms. “I hope they are fascinated about what type of sophisticated behaviors have evolved, even in such tiny animals as spider mites,” he said.

Persons: Dr, Peter Schausberger, ”, Schausberger, —, doesn’t, ” Schausberger, Tomasz Klejdysz, Yukie Sato, ” Sato, There’s, that’s, Rebecca Schmidt, Kate Golembiewski Organizations: CNN, University of Vienna, University of Tsukuba, US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service Locations: Japan, Chicago

☆ Tottori Sand Dunes: Japan’s disappearing desert
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Claire Hannum | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

But these are the Tottori Sand Dunes, wedged along the coast of Japan’s sparsely populated San’in region, the country’s very own slice of desert. A dwindling treasureThe Tottori dunes are located on the western coast of Honshu, Japan’s largest and most populous island. The Tottori Sand Dunes are just 12% of the size that they were 100 years ago. “The environmental conditions of the Tottori Sand Dunes are different from those of arid lands because of its humid climate,” Nagamatsu says. “But Tottori University is promoting arid land research using the ‘sand’ conditions of the Tottori Sand Dunes and experimental facilities.”Down the road from the research center, tourists are experiencing an otherworldly adventure in the sand.

Persons: you’d, They’ve, Takeo Arishima, ”, Dai Nagamatsu, Akira Miyawaki, — Buddhika, Nagamatsu, shiba, sandboarders, Anya Jarilla, “, it’s, amulapo, Kengo Kuma Organizations: Japan CNN, Sand Museum, Tottori University’s Faculty of Agriculture, Local, Brazilian Amazon ., Research Center, ” Staff, Associates Locations: Tottori Prefecture, Japan, Tottori, Honshu, Japan’s, Osaka, Hiroshima, Chūgoku, Sendai, Tottori University’s, Tottori City, Brazilian, Paragliders, Tottori Sand, Tokyo, ”

Pig prices soared in Europe last year as output was cut by farms squeezed by high grain and energy costs. The EU pork industry has been buffeted in the past decade by a Russian trade embargo, the westward spread of African swine fever and the COVID-19 pandemic. "We're continuing to add costs to the overall pork production chain," Justin Sherrard, global strategist for animal protein at Rabobank, said. That may mean EU pork exports, whose share of production more than doubled to 21% between 2000 and 2020, have peaked. But an inflationary economy may make consumers less ready to accept rising pork prices and deepen a shift towards chicken as a cheaper, more convenient option.

Persons: Carole Joliff, Joliff, Jean, Paul Simier, AKI, We're, Justin Sherrard, slaughterhouses, Klaus Kaiser, FICT, Rabobank's Sherrard, jamon serrano, prosciutto, Tim Koch, Gus Trompiz, Forrest Crellin, Michael Hogan, Johannes Birkebaek, Emma Pinedo, Toby Sterling, David Evans Organizations: European Union, Commission, Rabobank, BLE, Danish Crown, AMI, Thomson Locations: PARIS, Brittany, Europe, Russian, Hungarian, China, Japan, Denmark, Netherlands, Danish, France, Brazil, United States, Germany, EU, Paris, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Madrid, Amsterdam

☆ Exclusive: Staff at top U.S. farm research center file complaint alleging unsafe work conditions
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Leah Douglas | Thomson Reuters | Washington-Based Award-Winning Journalist Covering Agriculture | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +11 min

The Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) near Washington D.C. is the largest research facility owned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and has long been the flagship of U.S. farm research. “Our employees’ health and well-being is our top priority," a spokesperson at USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), which oversees BARC, told Reuters. STAFF CUTSFounded in 1910, the BARC facility spans nearly 7,000 acres in Prince George’s County, Maryland, near the nation’s capital. The unreliable conditions are affecting research outcomes, making it at times impossible to complete experiments or replicate their findings, said two research employees. On February 22, several BARC employees met with Thomas Shanower, the director of USDA’s Northeast Area, a division that oversees 15 research centers, including BARC.

☆ Bat lands worldwide are besieged, seeding risk of a new pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +16 min

This collision – bats and humans competing for resources on territory long the domain of the bats – could trigger the next pandemic. As people destroy bat habitats worldwide, they are unwittingly helping bat-borne viruses mutate, multiply, and infect other species, including homo sapiens. For millennia, bat viruses lurked across the forests of West Africa and in other undisturbed parts of the world but posed little threat to humanity. They’re potent proliferators: Some roost tightly together and in close quarters with other bat species. Each of the bat viruses analyzed by Reuters has epidemic potential, according to the World Health Organization.

☆ A Parasite May Explain Why Some People Are Driven to Start a Company
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

When wolves in Yellowstone National Park get infected with a cat parasite called Toxoplasma gondii, they become more likely to leave their packs and start new ones. The Yellowstone wolf data hints that it's just the side effect of a protozoan inhabiting our brains in a failed attempt to make more protozoa. So why would any of this make an infected wolf want to start its own pack? That was the suggestion of an influential 2006 paper titled "Can the Common Brain Parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, Influence Human Culture?" Just because Toxo might drive an alpha male to start a company, that doesn't mean it'll be a successful company.

Rising salinity in the Delta has multiple causes, experts and farmers say, including overextraction of groundwater and excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides. "With time, with the sea level higher, that line of salinity will go down into the Delta. EVAPORATIONSea water intrusion and salinity also threaten the Mekong Delta in Vietnam and the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta in Bangladesh. "You have to do much better job in a place like the Nile Delta because the water just evaporates quickly," she said. Rice cultivation helps wash the soil, but the government has imposed restrictions on the crop in parts of the Delta to conserve scarce water.

☆ Fact Check-Viral video does not show crocodiles ‘invading’ a beach in Brazil, contrary to claims online
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A video showing a riverbank full of caimans in the Pantanal region of Brazil has been misrepresented in viral social media posts, with users falsely claiming the clip shows crocodiles crowding a beach in the South American country, leading to panic among locals. Experts said the scene resembles caiman activity in the Pantanal region. More information about the climate conditions in the Pantanal region can be found (here) (here) (here). This clip does not show crocodiles “invading” a “beach” in Brazil. According to experts, the footage shows Yacare Caiman in the interior Pantanal region of Brazil, clustering near a river due to seasonal drought.

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