rainbow fish
No action on most recommendations on Indigenous mental health: reportBuy this ASX 200 gold share trading 'at a significant discount to peers'AP Trending SummaryBrief at 3:42 p.m. EST
For many, the real meaning of Christmas lies in sharing meals with family and friends. These feasts are often extravagant in style or size (or both) and are designed without our gut microbiomes and arteries in mind: Such is their joy. They’re also often laden with tradition. My family’s festive table, however, has been through a series of evolutions. My pescetarian childhood Christmas was celebrated around an enormous bowl of pesto pasta. We had a few years of the traditional roast turkey, followed by beef when it was decided a big bird wasn’t worth the stress. Then the feast was vegan until last year, when my parents decided to welcome small amounts of dairy back into their lives. All the meals were suitably celebratory, but the transition back toward dairy was notable because it echoes a shift I’ve seen multiple times among my peers. Several vegetarian and vegan friends have reverted to eating meat or are considering it, while — at least in my limited experience — no one seems to be going the other way. There’s also been a spate of celebrities renouncing plant-based diets too, including Lizzo, Miley Cyrus and Bear Grylls. Full disclosure: I’ve been a vegetarian for the last seven years, but I sometimes eat fish, and on a few occasions, I have eaten meat. (Some might call me a flexitarian.) It’s tempting to dismiss a preoccupation with others’ food choices as nosy. But it matters, at least on a macro scale. U.K. agriculture accounted for an estimated 12% of UK greenhouse gas emissions in 2023, a proportion that has been growing in significance as other sectors’ emissions decline. And as the U.K. imports around half of its food, our diets have effects beyond those associated with domestic farming. Looking at it from a consumption perspective, food makes up about 30% of the carbon footprint of a typical household in high-income European countries. Most of that footprint comes from animal products, with livestock farming accounting for 14.5% of global emissions. Governments seeking to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions will have to clean up their nations’ plates. This doesn’t mean that everyone must go vegan. Given food consumption is highly personal, influenced by numerous factors including culture, allergies and health, that would be an unrealistic goal. But coupled with improvements in production practices and food waste, big reductions can be achieved with small lifestyle shifts. The Climate Change Committee (CCC), an independent advisory body, has recommended that U.K. meat consumption should come down by 20% by 2030. A 2019 report written by Richard Carmichael, a research fellow at Imperial College London, for the CCC says that halving consumption of animal products by avoiding the highest-impact producers would achieve 73% of the emissions reduction made from switching to entirely plant-based diets. A few years ago it felt like there was a lot of momentum behind the transition to plant-based (or at least plant-heavy) diets. New alternative proteins from companies including Impossible Foods Inc. and Beyond Meat Inc. were hitting the market, and there was a boom in specialist vegan eateries. These days, Beyond Meat’s stock price has plummeted, and there’s a rash of stories about vegan restaurants having to add meat to their menus in order to survive. So what’s happening to our eating habits? A YouGov tracker survey shows that the proportion of respondents in the U.K. identifying as eating fewer or no animal products — from flexitarianism to veganism — largely hasn’t changed over the past five years: As you’d expect, vegans and vegetarians skew slightly younger — but the differences aren’t huge: But what people identify as is less important than what they actually eat. Here, data from the U.K.’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ Family Food Survey has interesting insights. Total meat consumption has been slowly declining, falling to a record low in 2021: While cheese consumption has increased slightly, consumption of semi-skimmed milk peaked in 2012. Meanwhile, non-dairy milk substitutes have climbed to about 110 milliliters (around 4 ounces) per person a week in 2022 from less than 25 milliliters in 2004, when it was first broken out as a separate category — this still represents only a fraction of cow’s milk being quaffed, but it’s an impressive growth rate. In the last few years, price has almost certainly been a factor influencing our shopping baskets. As the sticker shocks caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hit in 2022, you can see drops in consumption of categories including fish and cheese. But our diets have changed a lot since the 1970s, and I suspect the long-term declines in meat consumption are thanks in part to the globalization of food — we didn’t just start importing more produce from overseas (which has enabled us to eat fresh tomatoes, for example, all year), but we’ve been more exposed to plant-based recipes from different cultures. In that half-century, there’s no doubt that vegetarianism and veganism has become far easier and more socially acceptable. That has ripple effects as meat eaters can also now enjoy more flexible dining selections. But left to society and markets, things are moving too slowly to meet targets for meat consumption, and Carmichael’s work reveals that clear barriers to eating more vegetarian and vegan dishes remain. Several things swayed my friends back to animal products, including romantic partners, concerns over ultra-processed foods or merely feeling that they were alone in their endeavors. Given governments have generally avoided policies nudging people toward more sustainable diets, it’s no surprise that people are returning to what those around them are doing. There’s also a lesson for policy in this shift. The failure of vegan restaurants reflects the fact that an exclusive approach is less effective. Vegans and vegetarians socialize with those who eat meat. A social group would likely pick a location where everyone can eat happily. Having both options also normalizes plant-based meals — they are, after all, just food — and makes them more accessible to those who don’t identify as vegan but may want to try a particular dish. Such an approach could be taken with catering at government-funded institutions such as schools and hospitals, which, according to Carmichael, provide 30% of meals in the U.K. But with meat drawn into the culture wars and farmers already angry about a range of policy changes, this is an area that lawmakers are nervous about. At the United Nations climate conference in Azerbaijan, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted that he won’t “tell people how to run their lives.” In the end, the impetus to coax people further toward a more flexitarian practice — where meals are more heavily plant-based but meat, dairy and fish are enjoyed in moderation — may come from another source: public health. Although meat consumption has declined overall, there’s been a steady rise in ready meals and processed meats, which has led to overconsumption of saturated fat and salt. In England, 64% of adults were estimated to be overweight or living with obesity in 2022 to 2023. This puts strain on the National Health Service. Obesity costs it 6.5 billion pounds ($8.1 billion) a year and is the second-biggest preventable cause of cancer. Helping people eat healthier diets with more fruit, vegetables and fiber would have enormous benefits for human well-being and the planet. Research suggests that reducing average meat consumption to two to three servings a week could prevent 45,000 deaths and save the NHS 1.2 billion pounds a year. Starmer may not want to push the envelope, but the government can’t ignore the diet question forever. Perhaps Christmas isn’t a time to dwell too much on what’s healthy. Enjoy your dinner, whatever is on your plate. But come 2025, we should all reflect on whether our diets are serving our best interests. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Lara Williams is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering climate change. ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com/opinion. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Lebanon security source says Rifaat al-Assad flew out of Beirut
LIVERMORE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 12, 2024-- McGrath RentCorp (“McGrath” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: MGRC), a leading business-to-business rental company in North America, today announced the Board of Directors’ declaration of a quarterly cash dividend of $0.475 per common share for the quarter ending December 31, 2024. The dividend will be payable on January 31, 2025 to all shareholders of record on January 17, 2025. The year 2025 marks 33 consecutive years that McGrath RentCorp has raised its dividend to shareholders. ABOUT MCGRATH: McGrath RentCorp (Nasdaq: MGRC) is a leading business-to-business rental company in North America with a strong record of profitable business growth. Founded in 1979, McGrath’s operations are centered on modular solutions through its Mobile Modular and Mobile Modular Portable Storage businesses. In addition, its TRS-RenTelco business offers electronic test equipment rental solutions. The Company’s rental product offerings and services are part of the circular supply economy, helping customers work more efficiently, and sustainably manage their environmental footprint. With over 40 years of experience, McGrath’s success is driven by a focus on exceptional customer experiences. This focus has underpinned the Company’s long-term financial success and supported over 30 consecutive years of annual dividend increases to shareholders, a rare distinction among publicly listed companies. McGrath is headquartered in Livermore, California. Additional information about McGrath and its businesses is available at mgrc.com and investors.mgrc.com . View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241212717160/en/ CONTACT: Keith E. Pratt EVP & Chief Financial Officer 925-606-9200 KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMMERCIAL BUILDING & REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY CONSTRUCTION & PROPERTY ENGINEERING OTHER TECHNOLOGY MANUFACTURING MACHINERY HARDWARE OTHER CONSTRUCTION & PROPERTY SOURCE: McGrath RentCorp Copyright Business Wire 2024. PUB: 12/12/2024 04:01 PM/DISC: 12/12/2024 04:00 PM http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241212717160/enShohei Ohtani and wife expecting first child
Medical Properties Trust, Inc. ( NYSE:MPW – Get Free Report ) SVP Rosa Handley Hooper sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.67, for a total transaction of $11,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 356,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,308,722. This trade represents a 0.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink . Medical Properties Trust Trading Down 0.8 % Shares of MPW opened at $3.73 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a PE ratio of -0.88, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.29. Medical Properties Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $2.92 and a 1 year high of $6.55. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.72. Medical Properties Trust Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.58%. Medical Properties Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently -7.58%. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Medical Properties Trust Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Medical Properties Trust from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Colliers Securities raised Medical Properties Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $6.50 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Medical Properties Trust from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Medical Properties Trust to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Medical Properties Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.92. Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on MPW About Medical Properties Trust ( Get Free Report ) Medical Properties Trust, Inc is a self-advised real estate investment trust formed in 2003 to acquire and develop net-leased hospital facilities. From its inception in Birmingham, Alabama, the Company has grown to become one of the world's largest owners of hospital real estate with 441 facilities and approximately 44,000 licensed beds as of September 30, 2023. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Medical Properties Trust Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Medical Properties Trust and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
Short Interest in Aftermath Silver Ltd. (OTCMKTS:AAGFF) Increases By 30.6%MAA Announces Regular Quarterly Preferred Dividend
For millennia, the Arctic tundra has helped stabilize global temperatures by storing carbon in the frozen ground. Wildfires have changed that, according to the latest Arctic Report Card released yesterday at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference. Fires, intensified by climate change, release carbon trapped in soil and plants. More frequent infernos have now transformed the tundra into a net source of carbon dioxide emissions. It’s a dramatic shift for the Arctic, and one that will make the planet even hotter. “Climate change is not bringing about a new normal. Instead, climate change is bringing ongoing and rapid change,” Twila Moon, lead editor of the Arctic Report Card and deputy lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, said at the conference yesterday. “Climate change is not bringing about a new normal.” The Arctic’s permafrost, which stays frozen year-round, has kept planet-heating carbon sequestered for thousands of years. Northern permafrost has been estimated to hold about twice as much carbon as there is in the atmosphere. Tundra describes the Arctic’s tree-less plains, where shrubs, grasses, and mosses grow and take in carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. Plants eventually release that CO2 back into the atmosphere when they decompose or if they burn. And lucky for us, frigid temperatures slow microbial decomposition in the Arctic, keeping that carbon locked in the soil. But greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels have made our planet a hotter place, and the Arctic has been warming nearly four times as fast as the rest of the planet. As a result, permafrost is thawing — waking up the microbes that break down dead plants and releasing previously trapped greenhouse gases. Permafrost temperatures hit record highs across nearly half of the monitoring stations in Alaska in 2024, according to the report card. Wildfires are another growing problem since dead vegetation makes for a great fuel source. Blazes quickly release carbon trapped in plants and soil. Wildfires across areas with permafrost in North America have increased since the middle of the 20th century. Fires are more intense, burn across larger areas, and create more carbon pollution. 2023 was the worst year on record in terms of how much of the Arctic burned. A historically bad wildfire season in Canada led to the release of more than 640 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, an amount larger than any country’s annual carbon pollution with the exception of China, the US, and India. Taking wildfire emissions into account, the Arctic tundra is now releasing more CO2 than it captures. It’s a long-term trend that the researchers expect to continue after crunching data from roughly the past two decades for this report card. The Arctic permafrost region as a whole — which encompasses tundra and forests — has become carbon neutral over the past 20 years, meaning it’s neither absorbing nor releasing excess CO2. The amount of carbon dioxide now leaking from the tundra is small in comparison to the billions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions human activity sends into the atmosphere each year. But it adds to the many ways life in the Arctic is getting harder. Caribou populations have dropped by 65 percent over the last few decades as global warming transforms the landscape to which they’ve adapted, for example. They’ve been documented eating less on hot days, perhaps because they’re trying to stay cool or avoid mosquitoes. And caribou health has cascading impacts on the local people that rely on the herds for food. Some species are finding ways to adjust. Ice seals in Alaska, for example, have started to eat different kinds of fish depending on what’s available and seem to be staying healthy. Understanding how the environment is changing, through research like the Arctic Report Card, might similarly help humans adapt. The report was produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) working with 97 scientists from 11 different countries. If not for the vast stores of carbon in the Arctic permafrost, the consequences of climate change would already be much more intense today. And now, the Arctic needs help from other regions of the world that are producing vastly more planet-heating pollution. “While we can hope that many plants and animals will find pathways to adaptation as ice seals have so far, hope is not a pathway for preparation or risk reduction,” Moon said. “With almost all human produced heat trapping emissions created outside of the Arctic, only the strongest actions to reduce these emissions will allow us to minimize risk and damage as much as possible into the future. This is true for the Arctic and the globe.”
AP Trending SummaryBrief at 3:42 p.m. EST
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