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☆ Japan killed 17 million chickens amid an outbreak of bird flu. Now it's running out of space to bury them.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Japan culled over 17 million chickens this season amid its worst bird flu outbreak ever, per NHK. As a result, egg prices soared in Japan, prompting some restaurants to suspend sales of egg-based items. However, not all of them have enough capacity to incinerate so many carcasses, according to another NHK report in October. The mass culling of so many chickens over bird flu impacts food prices. It's not just Japan as there's an ongoing bird flu outbreak globally that's affecting the poultry industry — and in turn egg prices.

☆ War has killed 262 Ukrainian athletes, sports minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 2 (Reuters) - Russia's war against Ukraine has claimed the lives of 262 Ukrainian athletes and destroyed 363 sports facilities, the country's sports minister, Vadym Huttsait, said on Saturday. "They all support this war and attend events held in support of this war," Huttsait said, according to a transcript on President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's website. The International Olympic Committee has recommended the gradual return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competition as neutrals. Reuters could not independently verify the number of Ukrainian athletes killed or how many facilities have been destroyed. In the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion on Ukraine in February 2022, a number of Ukrainian national-level athletes have taken up arms voluntarily to defend their country.

☆ Ukraine says athletes not allowed to compete against Russians in Paris qualifiers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 31 (Reuters) - Ukrainian athletes will not be allowed to take part in qualifying events for the 2024 Paris Olympics if they have to compete against Russians, government minister Oleh Nemchinov said. Huttsait is also president of Ukraine's Olympic committee. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations Tuesday for the gradual return to international competition for Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutrals. The IOC is to make a separate decision on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in Paris at a later date. Some federations have readmitted Russians and Belarusians in competitions but there is also considerable opposition to the IOC's plans from athletes and some European governments.

☆ COVID led to sharp rise in vaccine compensation schemes, but gaps remain -Oxford
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Maggie Fick | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Regulators globally have shown that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and adverse events are extremely rare. But in those rare cases, the pandemic exposed problems in some countries -- such as in the United States -- with vaccine compensation schemes when large proportions of populations are inoculated. In January 2020, when the pandemic began, only 26 vaccine compensation schemes existed. She named Brazil as a country that has no compensation scheme, for example. The draft pandemic treaty which is being negotiated by World Health Organization member states calls for a global compensation scheme for vaccine injuries.

☆ Europe drought: This once-thriving lake has all but dried up -- a story repeated across Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

While in the United States, the snow and rain that have pummeled California have helped fill reservoirs and ease unrelenting drought, winter has been far from kind to many parts of Europe. A buoy is seen on the banks of the partially dry Lake Montbel as France faces a record winter dry spell. “Lake Montbel remains at an abnormally low level,” Franck Solacroup, the regional director of the Adour-Garonne Water Agency, which covers the area that includes Lake Montbel, told CNN. Farmers like Rouquet, who rely on the lake, are having to make tough decisions on what to grow. “This is the most extreme winter in terms of low snow cover,” she told CNN.

☆ ABB invests in US robot factory as reshoring trend hots up
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( John Revill | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ZURICH, March 15 (Reuters) - ABB (ABBN.S) is expanding its main US robot factory as its customers there in the automotive, packaging and machinery industries confront a tight labour market as they bring production back home. The United States is the third largest in the global robotics market, which is worth around $50 billion per year according to estimates by ABB and the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). Rapid growth is expected as US companies bring production closer to home to avoid logistic log jams which have gummed up supply chains since the global pandemic. A survey by ABB last year showed 70% of North American businesses suffered supply chain disruptions in the last year. "The potential for growth in the industrial robots market is huge," Atiya said.

☆ Factbox: Cyclone Freddy among Africa's deadliest storms
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JOHANNESBURG, March 15 (Reuters) - Cyclone Freddy has killed more than 270 people in southern Africa since it first made landfall last month, making it one of the deadliest storms to hit the continent in the last two decades. Below are some of the deadliest storms recorded in Africa since 2000. CYCLONE FREDDY, 2023Cyclone Freddy has killed more than 270 people, mostly in Malawi but also in Mozambique and Madagascar. CYCLONE GALIFO, 2004Cyclone Galifo killed about 170 people when it struck Madagascar in 2004, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. SOMALIA CYCLONE, 2013A tropical cyclone that hit Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region in 2013 killed about 160 people, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

☆ U.S. small business confidence improves further in February - NFIB
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, March 14 (Reuters) - U.S. small-business confidence improved further in February, but many owners continued to experience difficulties finding workers, according to a survey on Tuesday. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) said its Small Business Optimism Index increased 0.6 point to 90.9 last month. Forty-seven percent of owners reported job openings that were hard to fill, up 2 points from January, with workers scarce for both skilled and unskilled positions. According to the NFIB, worker shortages were acute in the transportation, services and construction industries. About 38% of owners reported raising average selling prices, down 4 points from January.

☆ Op-ed: The calm before the storm – These 3 drivers will dictate the landing ahead for the U.S. economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Rebecca Patterson | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The approach of those storms seems an appropriate analogy to the U.S. economic outlook today. Investors today are keenly focused on what kind of economic landing the U.S. will have and how best to position for different outcomes. That's critical for the broader growth outlook, given that consumption represents around two-thirds of the economy. While many U.S. firms are expressing their nervousness about the economic outlook, they are at the same time still seeking to hire. A negative feedback loop would likely ensue, with less income weighing on spending and less spending making companies more cautious.

☆ Madagascar suspends schools as cyclone Freddy approaches
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Lovasoa Rabary | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ANTANANARIVO, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Madagascar's government on Tuesday suspended schools and transport in the path of tropical cyclone Freddy, which was likely to make landfall in the southeast of the country by evening. The cyclone is expected to hit Mananjary district, about 270 km from the capital Antananarivo, with winds of nearly 155 km per hour, Madagascar's meteorological services said. All traffic in cyclone Freddy's projected path was suspended overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, the country's ministry of transport and meteorology said. Cyclone Freddy is expected to make landfall nearly a month after storm Cheneso battered the island nation of 29 million, killing 33 people and forcing thousands from their homes. "It is expected to cause locally devastating winds and a very dangerous sea state near the impact zone in Madagascar," UNOCHA said on Monday.

☆ USA Boxing condemns IBA's 'misleading' 2024 Olympic qualifiers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Feb 21 (Reuters) - The Russian-led International Boxing Association's (IBA's) announcement that its world championships are qualifiers for the 2024 Olympics is "false and misleading" and an attempt to sabotage qualification for the Paris Games, USA Boxing said. "USA Boxing condemns in the strongest possible terms this attempt by IBA to confuse boxers from around the world, knowing full well that IBA is not associated with the International Olympic Committee nor the IOC's published qualification system," McAtee said. At worst, USA Boxing believes this may be an attempt to sabotage the Olympic qualification for the Paris Olympic Games," the statement added. On Sunday, Switzerland and the Netherlands joined the United States, Ireland, Britain, Czech Republic, Sweden and Canada in boycotting the women's world championships to be held in New Delhi, India's capital, over March 15-26. Two world qualification tournaments are also planned for 2024.

☆ World Athletics will address Russian doping before Ukraine - Coe
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, Feb 17 (Reuters) - World Athletics will look at the issue of Russian athletes competing while the Ukraine war continues only after it has been decided whether the country has cleaned up its act on doping sufficiently to be reinstated, Sebastian Coe said on Friday. The Russian Athletics Federation (RAF) has been banned from athletics since 2015 as a result of the country's widespread doping, although some athletes from Russia were allowed to compete at the last two Summer Olympics as neutrals. World Athletics President Coe said doping would still take precedence when the governing council meets next month to decide whether the RAF has made sufficient progress along its "road map" to warrant reinstatement. "It was decided by the council it was inconceivable that Russia athletes (could compete) ... International Federations such as World Athletics, however, have the final decision on which athletes are allowed to compete in qualifying events and at the Olympic Games.

The quake killed at least 36,187 in southern Turkey, while authorities in neighbouring Syria have reported 5,800 deaths - a figure that has changed little in days. While several people were found alive in Turkey on Wednesday, the number of rescues has dwindled significantly. Neither Turkey nor Syria have said how many people are still missing. More than 4,000 fatalities have been reported in the rebel-held northwest, but rescuers say nobody has been found alive there since Feb. 9. Deliveries from Turkey were severed completely in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, when a route used by the United Nations was temporarily blocked.

☆ U.S. weekly jobless claims fall; monthly producer prices rebound
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, offering more evidence of the economy's resilience despite tighter monetary policy. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 194,000 for the week ended Feb. 11, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims remain low despite high-profile layoffs in the technology sector and other industries highly sensitive to interest rates. Some of the laid-off workers are likely finding new work or are delaying filing for benefits because of severance packages. A second report from the Labor Department on Thursday showed monthly producer prices accelerating in January.

☆ 'Not so rosy': Russian athletes face prospect of Olympics ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Olympic Rings are pictured in front of The Olympic House, headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the opening of the executive board meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in Lausanne, Switzerland September 8, 2022. Since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) opened the door for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals at the 2024 Paris Games, calls to have them excluded have snowballed. At an indoor track in northeastern Moscow on Friday, hurdler Sergey Shubenkov said he was avoiding reading the news about Russia's Olympic prospects. The measure was taken as part of wider sanctions against the Russian athletics federation, which has been suspended since 2015 over doping offences. "I think those who don't support (Russia's special military operation in Ukraine) have already left.

☆ IBA denounces 'hyenas' after U.S. and Irish boycott worlds
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Alan Baldwin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Amateur boxing's Russian-led governing body has offered to fund U.S. and Irish boxers wanting to compete in this year's world championships after their national federations decided to boycott the tournaments. The International Boxing Association (IBA) also warned in a statement on Friday that it would pursue "strong sanctions against those who initiate and join the participation boycott". "Those who are doing this to our athletes are worse than hyenas and jackals, they violate the integrity of sport and culture. The Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) said on Friday its boxers, referees and judges would be staying away. "IBA invites USA and Irish teams to come to the world championships and participate under their flags and anthems," it said.

"We have a nice little sign in front of our register that says 'Hey, credit card fees, they cost us a lot of money,'" Victor Garcia, longtime owner of Sol Dias, told CNBC. CNBC | Cait FredaThe swipe fees aren't new, but the worsening problem comes at a time when Main Street businesses across the country are increasingly struggling with changing macroeconomic conditions. Although the central bank does not conduct the same survey for credit card transactions, the processes used for debit and credit cards are similar. Meanwhile, credit card fees amount to the third-highest operating expense on average for restaurants, according to the Texas Restaurant Association. The European Union cracked down on similar increases, capping fees in 2015 at 0.2% for debit card purchases and 0.3% for credit card purchases.

Much as he would have liked to significantly increase supplies, Biosca-Reig said he couldn't justify investing millions of euros in new production lines unless he was paid more for the generic drug to cover sharply rising costs. European generic drugmakers say the tender system and regulated prices have fuelled a race to the bottom, and European firms are being undercut by suppliers from Asia. BRUSSELS, WE HAVE A PROBLEMThe European Medicines Agency (EMA) and European Union lawmakers acknowledge there is a problem. Half the generic medicines sold in Spain are priced below 1.60 euros per box or bottle, the country's generics manufacturing association said. But companies with smaller market shares, such as Israel's Teva (TEVA.TA), which has 5% of the region's amoxicillin market according to Medicines for Europe, are constrained.

LONDON/GENEVA, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Governments may have to reserve drugs and vaccines for the World Health Organization to distribute in poorer countries to avoid a repeat of the "catastrophic failure" during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an early draft of a global pandemic agreement. The agreement, which is commonly known as the pandemic treaty, has been drawn up by WHO member states and will now go through a lengthy negotiating process before being finalised. Talks on the draft treaty will begin on Feb. 27 and are set to continue to 2024. However, there will be "heat and opposition" in the negotiations ahead, particularly around the intellectual property provisions, said James Love, director of the NGO Knowledge Ecology International. The draft also calls for a new WHO Global Pandemic Supply Chain and Logistics Network to ensure better and fairer distribution of counter-measures, as well as a global compensation scheme for vaccine injuries.

☆ Analysis: IOC on spot over Russian presence at 2024 Olympics
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Karolos Grohmann | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Some 18 months before the competition is due to start, the IOC is desperate to calm the waters. "Currently within the IOC, there is a lot of attention now on the Ukraine issue and the Russian athletes and any opposition," an Olympic movement insider told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "A sports boycott serves nothing," IOC President Thomas Bach said on the 40th anniversary of the 1980 Moscow Games boycott by some Western states. The IOC, host city, and international federations would ultimately benefit if Russian participation was perceived as upholding the Games' universal and neutral character. The IOC had also called for a ban of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions as part of "protective measures" given the volatile situation.

☆ All countries 'dangerously unprepared' for future pandemics, says IFRC
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GENEVA, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The world is "dangerously unprepared" for future pandemics, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) say in a report published on Monday, calling on countries to update their preparedness plans by year-end. In its World Disasters Report 2022, the IFRC said "all countries remain dangerously unprepared for future outbreaks" despite COVID-19 killing more people than any earthquake, drought or hurricane in history. said Jagan Chapagain, secretary general of the IFRC, the world's largest disaster response network. "There will be no excuse for a continued lack of preparedness after having gone through three terrible years." "The important thing is there has to be a political will to commit to that," he said.

☆ The world is 'dangerously unprepared' to handle the next pandemic, the Red Cross says in a scathing report
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The world is "dangerously unprepared" for future pandemics, the Red Cross warned in a report. The Red Cross' secretary general said the COVID-19 pandemic "should be a wake-up call." The humanitarian aid organization said in its World Disasters Report released Monday that "many countries" were not prepared for COVID-19 and that "all countries remain dangerously unprepared for future outbreaks." Pandemic preparedness plans, the report says, "should include concrete measures to strengthen equity, trust, and local action." By 2024, according to the report, all countries should adopt a new treaty and revised International Health Regulations.

☆ Russian athletes could participate in Asian competitions - IOC
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Russian and Belarusian athletes could participate in Asian events with the International Olympic Committee looking at options for their return to international competitions. The IOC said on Wednesday the Olympic Council of Asia had offered Russian and Belarusian athletes the chance to compete in Asia. The IOC said in a statement it "welcomed and appreciated the offer from the Olympic Council of Asia to give these (Russian and Belarusian) athletes access to Asian competitions". That could potentially also include Olympic qualifying events, with Russian and Belarusian athletes unable to compete in Europe due to various restrictions and bans as well as opposition caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The IOC had recommended that events in Russia be cancelled or relocated and that Russian and Belarusian athletes not take part or compete under a neutral flag.

☆ Paying back Covid loans is hammering millions of businesses
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Gabe Cohen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Unlike some other pandemic programs, these 30-year loans, carrying an interest rate of 3.75% for businesses, were intended to be paid back. But revenue is still down more than 45% — and it's time to start paying back those government loans. Coming out of the pandemic, small businesses have faced difficult hurdles, like staffing shortages, supply chain issues and inflation. Now add a possible looming recession, just as these EIDL loans come due. For EIDL loans over $200,000, a personal guaranty was required for individuals with 20% or more ownership in the business.

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