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Creating a cocoa ecosystem where farmers thrive

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:11 GMT

As a global food company, at Mars we take great pride in the quality of our products. Our commitment to quality means working hard to understand the needs of our consumers, and ensuring our products, including cocoa, are made under sustainable and socially responsible conditions. For us this means being a trusted partner for the benefit of the families and individuals in cocoa farming communities, investing in their success and wellbeing, and striving to positively impact the environment in which we operate.Unfortunately, ‘sustainable cocoa’ is easier said than done. From planting the first seedlings, to growing healthy plants, harvesting, and selling the produce on the market, cocoa growing is riddled with structural barriers, which make it extremely difficult for farmers to earn a consistent living income for themselves and their families.Poverty is a complex, unjust phenomenon. To date, many efforts to lift smallholder farmers out of poverty in cocoa supply chains have failed. A ...

Asian shares fall on banking turmoil, recession worries

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:11 GMT

By ELAINE KURTENBACH (AP Business Writer)BANGKOK (AP) — Shares fell Friday in Asia as worries over turmoil in the banking sector and recession risks overshadowed gains on Wall Street. Benchmarks declined in most major markets, while U.S. futures were higher. Oil prices fell.Investors are worried that more banks might suffer a debilitating exodus of customers following the second- and third-largest U.S. bank failures in history. That turmoil is clouding the outlook for what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates after hiking them to market-rattling heights over the last year. The fear is that all the turmoil in the banking industry could cause a sharp pullback in lending to small and midsized businesses around the country. That could put more pressure on the economy, raising the risk for a recession that many economists already saw as likely. Regional banks shares in Asia were modestly lower Friday, with HSBC Holdings plc losing 3.4% in Hong Kong while mid-sized Japane...

Editorial: Law students shout down First Amendment

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:11 GMT

The disdain law students and their administrators show the First Amendment and differing viewpoints should be a major societal concern.Earlier this month, federal circuit court Judge Kyle Duncan appeared at Stanford Law School to give a speech. He came at the invitation of the Federalist Society. His talk was titled, “The Fifth Circuit in Conversation with the Supreme Court: Covid, Guns, and Twitter.” Such gatherings are one of the benefits of attending an elite law school.Instead, what took place would have gotten a preschooler sent home for the day. Many Stanford law students were angry that Judge Duncan was coming, because he is — gasp! — a traditional conservative. Some held up profane signs in the room where he was speaking. As he began his lecture, many students shouted and heckled him with taunts such as “scumbag” and “you’re a liar.”This is wildly inappropriate, but it has become the norm from the “tolerant” left.Ironically, Stanford claims to have a strong free speech polic...

‘The Lost King’ rules as history/mystery tour

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:11 GMT

MOVIE REVIEW“The Lost King”Rated PG-13. At AMC Boston Common.Grade: B+Based on the remarkable true story of the search for the remains of the last Plantagenet King Richard III in a car park, “The Lost King” has a fascinating pedigree. Two-time Academy Award nominee Steve Coogan co-wrote the screenplay with his “Philomena” co-writer Jeff Pope based on the book by Philippa Langley, the person who led to the amazing 2012 discovery. Langley then produced the 2013 television film “Richard III: The King in the Car Park” and is an executive producer of this lovely, educational and mostly entertaining offshoot. The film’s director is the masterful Stephen Frears, whose career received a shot in the arm in 1985 when “My Beautiful Laundrette” received rave reviews, and he continued earning rave reviews through to the aforementioned “Philomena” with Coogan and Judi Dench and the Emmy Award-winning TV series “A Very English Scandal.”“The Lost King” co-stars an appealing, deeply sympatheti...

Caruso: New climate change regs a burden for business

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:11 GMT

It’s no secret that the Biden administration is committed to pushing an ambitious climate change agenda. From supporting aggressive efforts to increase the adoption of electric vehicles to support 100% renewable sources for the electric grid by 2030, the administration has made it clear that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a priority. In his recent State of the Union address, the president stated, “We’re rebuilding for the long term.”But overlooked in the climate change discussion is the top-down regulatory push from federal agencies to create strict, complex — and frankly duplicative — mandates on how public companies disclose their greenhouse emissions and those of others in their supply chain. In fact, in January, the Securities and Exchange Commission published a regulatory agenda that included the commission’s new climate disclosure proposal that’s been described as one of the biggest changes to corporate disclosures in decades.Another similar proposed rule from the Federa...

Hamrock: To end opioid crisis, transform culture of despair

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:11 GMT

Opioid overdoses killed over 106,000 people in our country last year. This startling number of fatalities now exceed those from all cancer types except lung cancer (which claimed the lives of 134,000). With fentanyl becoming too easily accessible in all our communities, a 16-year-old local high school student afflicted with an opiate use disorder now has a worse prognosis than a classmate would if suffering from leukemia.The high prevalence of suicides, alcohol related illnesses, and overdose deaths are reflective of our societal brokenness and are now identified as “deaths of despair.” There is growing concern that untreated mental health issues, adverse childhood events, and a decline in religious participation may be important contributors. Key indicators of this despair include loneliness, hopelessness, shame, poor self-esteem, and feeling unloved.These deeply rooted pains or significant voids in one’s heart often result in self-medicating behaviors that can lead to addictions. ...

‘James Baldwin Abroad’ a cinematic journey well worth taking

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:11 GMT

MOVIE REVIEW“James Baldwin Abroad”Not Rated. At the Coolidge CornerGrade: A-A towering figure in American cultural history, essayist, novelist, playwright, poet and former Harlem preacher James Baldwin is on camera in three short films presented under the collective title “James Baldwin Abroad.” The author of the landmark 1953 novel “Go Tell It on the Mountain” and the 1955 collected essays “Notes of a Native Son,” Baldwin also wrote “If Beale Street Could Talk,” which was adapted into an Academy Award-winning a film by Barry Jenkins in 2018. Baldwin was also the subject of the Academy Award-nominated 2016 documentary “I Am Not Your Negro.”Horace Ove’s 46-minute 1968 film, “Baldwin’s (N-word),” the longest of the three films, depicts Baldwin and American actor and comedian Dick Gregory at the West Indian Student Center in London, where Baldwin addresses an audience of mostly Black Londoners on the subject of life as a Black man in America and the legacy of slavery in our...

‘A Good Person’ a great look at life, tragedy & loss

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:11 GMT

MOVIE REVIEW“A Good Person”Rated R. At AMC Boston Common, Landmark Kendall Square and Coolidge Corner Theater.Grade: BWritten and directed by Zach Braff and starring Florence Pugh when the two were a couple, “A Good Person” is better than that bland title. The film tells the story of a young woman who was driving on the New Jersey Turnpike on the eve of her wedding when an accident occurs that kills her fiance’s sister and her husband, leaving their young daughter an orphan and their family ravaged by grief. The father of her fiance Nathan (Chinaza Uche, “Dickinson”) is a retired, seemingly venerable Newark police officer named Daniel (Morgan Freeman). He blames Allison aka Allie (Pugh) for his loss.A year after the accident, Allie, who was seriously injured in the crash, is addicted to pain killers and a junkie living with her mother Diane (Molly Shannon). Allison’s mother is trying to ween her daughter off her prescribed pain meds. Allison, who is afraid to drive, gets...

Dear Abby: Friend is engaged, but they’re still lovers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:11 GMT

Dear Abby: I lost my husband of 20 years a little over two years ago. Last year, I moved to another state to be close to family. I rented an apartment, and my best friend moved with me. Shortly after, I met a much younger man. He was immediately interested in me. He’s sweet, kind and very handsome. It took me months to realize that I’m also interested in him.We began spending time together, including bedroom fun. He has told me at least twice he loves me, and I told him the same. His demeanor and expressions match his words, and we agreed for the time being to be friends with benefits.Three months ago, he met someone much closer to his age. But even in front of her he holds me close and tells me he loves me. She has now slapped a ring on his finger and is pushing him for marriage. He keeps saying he’s not ready. We feel that until the day he says “I do,” it’s OK for us to continue our bedroom fun. I’m new to the dating world, and he’s ...

Scandal-plagued China soccer hit by new corruption probes

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:11 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China’s scandal-plagued official Football Association has been rocked by new corruption probes into its chiefs of discipline and competition. The sports ministry said Friday that Wang Xiaoping, director the association’s Disciplinary Committee, and Huang Song, were both “suspected of serious violations” of law and discipline — the government’s usual bywords for graft. Huang was being investigated by the ruling Communist Party’s corruption watchdog, the sports ministry’s anti-graft body and by authorities in Hebei province outside Beijing where the national team maintains a training camp, the notice said. The single-sentence announcements said Wang and Huang were cooperating with investigators but gave no details about the charges against them. Chinese prosecutors have wide powers to hold suspects for lengthy interrogations if state secrets are believed to be involved. The announcements come barely a month after the head of China’s national soccer body Chen Shuyu...