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Cage-Free Chicken Campaign Scores Surprising Success

Without much fuss and even less public attention, the nation's egg producers are in the midst of a multibillion-dollar shift to cage-free eggs that is dramatically changing the lives of millions of hens in response to new laws and demands from restaurant chains.

In a decade, the percentage of hens in cage-free housing has soared from 4% in 2010 to 28% in 2020, and that figure is expected to more than double to about 70% in the next four years.

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Olympics Show Complexity of Sustainability Claims

To stage the Winter Games in the Chinese capital, organizers embarked on a massive public works campaign, constructing new venues and piping millions of gallons of water up into the arid surrounding mountains to create fake snow for ski competitions.

And then they proclaimed these to be the most sustainable Olympics in history.

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World Leaders at France Summit Mull Ways to Protect Oceans

World leaders met on France's Atlantic coast Friday to discuss protecting the planet's oceans from threats such as overfishing and plastic pollution, and finding fairer ways to manage the seas.

The One Ocean Summit comes as European authorities are investigating a mass fish dump in the Bay of Biscay that environmental activists call an example of abuses by huge trawlers that disrupt undersea ecosystems.

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U.N. Labor Agency Cites Concerns about China's Xinjiang Region

An annual report from the United Nations labor agency Friday highlighted the work conditions of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in China's western Xinjiang region, noting signs of "coercive measures" that deprive workers of free choice in selecting jobs and calling on Beijing to provide more information about how it's respecting their rights.

The report from an International Labor Organization committee of experts tasked with helping countries uphold their own international commitments emphasized the labor rights aspect of China's policies in Xinjiang. Advocacy groups and Western governments, among others, have voiced human rights concerns over the treatment of the region's Muslims.

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In Romania, NATO Chief Visits Air Base Hosting U.S. Troops

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg paid an official visit to Romania on Friday, where he joined the country's president at a military air base that will host some of the 1,000 U.S. troops deployed to the country as the alliance bolsters its forces on the eastern flank amid soaring tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Stoltenberg, who met with Romania's President Klaus Iohannis and other officials at the southeast Mihail Kogalniceanu air base near the Black Sea, said that "there is a risk of armed conflict in Europe."

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Doping Hearing to Decide Russian Skater's Olympic Fate

Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's right to compete in the women's event at the Beijing Olympics will be decided at an urgent hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Both the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Testing Agency — on behalf of the IOC — said Friday they would fight the decision by Russia's anti-doping agency to allow the 15-year-old Valieva to skate. The Russian agency provisionally banned Valieva on Tuesday because she failed a doping test in December. After an appeal, the agency lifted the ban Wednesday.

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Arab Party Leader in Israel Rejects 'Apartheid' Label

The head of an Arab party in Israel who made history last year by joining the governing coalition said he would not use the word "apartheid" to describe relations between Jews and Arabs within the country.

Amnesty International last week joined two other well-known human rights groups in saying that Israel's policies toward the Palestinians within its borders and in the occupied territories amounts to apartheid. Israel rejects those allegations as antisemitic, saying that, among other things, they ignore the rights and freedoms enjoyed by its Arab citizens.

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U.S.-Allied Kurdish Commander Warns of Growing IS Threat

The Islamic State is a growing threat to northeast Syria, and the group will again flourish unless immediate action is taken, the Kurdish-led region's security chief said in the wake of last month's deadly prison attack.

Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, said immediate security measures were taken to contain active IS sleeper cells, but the group is proving to be a resilient insurgency. The threat remains high, he said, despite the death of the group's leader in a U.S. commando operation last week.

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High Energy Prices Send Europe's Businesses, Homes Reeling

Mehmet Bogday says his jaw dropped when he saw his electricity bill — it was higher than the rent he pays for his Istanbul restaurant selling traditional Turkish wraps, and more than double what he paid a month ago.

"This is unsustainable," said Bogday, who owns the Asmali Mescit Durumcusu restaurant. "If it continues this way, we will have to lay off staff. If it continues this way, we won't be able to make this work. We'll either downsize, or close and go sit at home."

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At Olympics and Beyond, Getting Away with it is Russia's Way

Be it sports, politics, hacking or war, the recent history of Russia's relationship with the world can be summed up in one phrase: They get away with it.

Vladimir Putin's Russia has perfected the art of flouting the rules, whether the venue is the Olympic arena, international diplomacy or meddling in other countries' elections from the comfort of home. And it has suffered little consequence for its actions.

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