NPR News: 06-20-2024 7PM EDT
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Day: June 20, 2024
New strains of yeast for brewing lager beers, created by hybridizing wild strains of yeast from Patagonia with brewer’s yeast, can yield novel flavors and aromas, reports a new study by Jennifer Molinet and Francisco Cubillos of the Universidad de Santiago de Chile, published June 20 in the journal PLOS Genetics.
Lager beers, which are brewed at low temperatures, dominate the global market, accounting for over 90% of commercial beer varieties. However, the flavors and aromas found in lagers are limited by a lack of genetic diversity in the yeast used to brew them. There are only two types of this yeast used worldwide. Both resulted from the hybridization of common brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and a wild, cold-tolerant strain (Saccharomyces eubayanus).
In the new study, researchers created new types of lager yeasts in the lab by hybridizing brewer’s yeast with natural isolates of wild S. eubayanus from Patagonia at low temperatures. They grew the resulting hybrids in ways to encourage their fermentation qualities. Further analysis showed that the strains had mutations in genes that enhanced their ability to metabolize certain types of sugars, which resulted in unique aroma profiles and high alcohol production. The researchers said the success of the new strains could be traced back, in part, to the fact that they inherited their mitochondria – the organelle that powers the cell – from the cold-tolerant wild strains, not the brewer’s yeast.
Overall, the new findings show that the genetic diversity found in wild yeast strains can be tapped to develop new lager yeasts that are suitable for industrial production. The study’s authors encourage others to explore wild yeasts as a way to expand the range of currently available beer styles.
The authors add: Our study takes advantage of the great genetic diversity of wild Patagonian yeast to create novel hybrid strains of lager beer with enhanced fermentation capacity and unique aroma profiles. Through interspecific hybridization, experimental evolution, and the;identification;of fermentation-associated genetic changes, we expand the repertoire of industrial yeast available for lager brewing.
The White House announced Thursday it would move Ukraine to the front of the line for deliveries of powerful air defense missiles, after a barrage of Russian missile and drone attacks damaged energy facilities throughout the besieged country.
Hundreds of newly-made Patriot and NASAMS missiles – used for surface-to-air defense – will go to Ukraine ahead of other nations who have ordered them, National Security Council communications adviser John Kirby said. He emphasized that planned deliveries to Taiwan and Israel will not be affected by this move, and that the other nations waiting for their shipments were “broadly supportive” when they were informed of Washington’s decision.
“Obviously more is needed and it’s needed now,” Kirby told journalists during a phone briefing with journalists. “So, as a result, the United States government has made the difficult but necessary decision to reprioritize near-term planned deliveries of foreign military sales to other countries of, particularly, Patriot and NASAMS missiles to go to Ukraine instead.”
A massive overnight Russian missile and drone attack damaged energy facilities throughout Ukraine, a day after the country announced rolling blackouts because of war-related power shortages.
Ukraine’s national power provider Ukrenergo said early Thursday an overnight attack on a thermal plant caused serious damage and wounded three workers.
“Equipment at facilities in Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kyiv regions got damaged,” the Ukrenergo statement added.
On Wednesday, Ukrenergo announced hourly rolling blackouts would be implemented throughout the country. Russian drone and missile strikes have cut Ukraine’s power-generating capabilities to half of what they were last year, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month.
In his daily address, Zelenskyy said government officials were looking for ways to improve the situation.
“We are preparing solutions that will ensure a more reliable passage of the heating season and give people more opportunities to get through this extremely difficult period, in terms of energy shortages and outages,” he said.
The Ukrainian air force said it shot down five out of nine missiles and all 27 drones launched by Russia over 10 Ukrainian regions during Thursday’s attack.
The military said Russia mostly targeted eastern Ukraine, specifically the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Dnipropetrovsk’s governor said three men were injured in the attack, which also damaged seven homes.
In Russia, the governor of the southern Krasnodar region said an overnight Ukrainian drone attack targeted oil storage facilities.
Governor Venyamin Kondratyev said a woman was killed in an attack on the city of Slavyansk-na-Kubani.
Russia’s defense agreement with North Korea this week, prompted a bipartisan group of US Senators to renew calls to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.
“This is one of the most important decisions our generation of politicians will make, because if we made Russia state sponsored terrorism, it would change the momentum in Ukraine overnight. It would be a morale boost to the Ukrainians. It would make it hard for anybody to do business with Russia, and it would further isolate this regime,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters Thursday.;
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said he had spoken with the Biden administration about the effort to secure the designation but has not discussed it since the announcement of Russia’s security partnership.;
“It is deeply scary, because it signals cooperation, not only against Ukraine, but against the United States,” Blumenthal said.
By Najia Houssari
Hezbollah said it fired “dozens” of Katyusha rockets targeting a barracks in northern Israel on Thursday in retaliation for a deadly strike in southern Lebanon that killed a member of the militant group in the village of Deir Kifa.
It came after fears of a wider regional conflict grew on Wednesday when Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned that “no place” in Israel would be spared if authorities in the country declared all-out war against his group. He also threatened to target Cyprus if the island nation allowed Israel to use its air bases.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded cross-border fire on an almost daily basis since the Oct. 7 attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.
In the attack by Israeli forces on Thursday, a combat drone hit a car on the Deir Kifa-Srifa road, killing its driver, Abbas Ibrahim Hamadeh. The Israeli army described him as a “Hezbollah operations commander in the Jouaiyya area.”
Elsewhere, Ammar Jomaa, the son of cleric Mohammed Jomaa, a Hezbollah official, died when a drone hit the car he was driving on the road to the town of Houmine El-Faouqa. And two people were seriously injured when an Israeli drone struck a pickup truck in the town of Hanouiyeh in the Tyre district.
On Wednesday, Israeli forces attacked four Hezbollah sites. It came shortly after the departure of Amos Hochstein, the US president’s envoy for Lebanon and Israel, who had visited Tel Aviv on Monday and Beirut on Tuesday in an attempt to calm the situation.
On Thursday morning, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the Jish settlement in the Upper Galilee, near the border with Lebanon, had been evacuated.
Nasrallah’s comments on Wednesday raised concerns on both sides about a possible escalation of hostilities.
Michael Malchieli, the Israeli minister of religious services, told Channel 14 news that his ministry, which is responsible for burials, “is preparing for significant scenarios in the north.”
Avichay Adraee, a spokesperson for the Israeli army, said the war in the north is “defensive but has offensive aspects in southern Lebanon. The army leadership discussed plans for confrontation in Lebanon and approved them, and we are awaiting the decision of the political leadership. Our current goal is to keep Hezbollah away from our borders, which we achieve through our strikes against its leaders and interests.”
Eitan Davidi, head of the Margaliot settlement council, said no place in Israel is safe.
“What worries us is the laxity and weakness of the Israeli government on the northern front,” he told Israeli radio news.
Nasrallah threatened during his speech to target all parts of Israel and said Hezbollah had obtained “new weapons that will be seen in action.”
He added: “We have prepared ourselves for the most challenging times. There is an unprecedented human power in the resistance, as we have far exceeded 100,000 members.
“There will be no place in Israel safe from our drones and missiles. The enemy knows very well that we have prepared ourselves for the most difficult days and the enemy knows what it will face. If war is imposed, the resistance will fight without constraints, rules or limits.”
He warned the Cypriot government that “opening its airports and bases to the enemy to target Lebanon means it has become part of the war.”
This threat to Cyprus caused concern in Lebanon and prompted criticism of Hezbollah for its unilateral declaration of war and threats against countries considered friendly.
Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry said: “Lebanese-Cypriot relations are built on a rich history of diplomatic cooperation … bilateral communication and consultations are ongoing at the highest levels between the two countries.”
Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, during a call to his Cypriot counterpart, Constantinos Kombos, expressed “Lebanon’s constant reliance on the positive role that Cyprus plays in supporting regional stability.”
The Cypriot minister affirmed that his country “hopes to be part of the solution and not the problem,” adding that “Cyprus doesn’t want to be involved in the ongoing war in the region in any way.”
In a message posted on social media platform X, the former leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, wrote: “Cyprus has been a refuge for Lebanese for decades in times of distress.”
MP Ghassan Hasbani described Nasrallah’s threat as “very dangerous” and added: “This party had previously threatened the brotherly Gulf states and isolated Lebanon. Today, it expanded that threat to include the EU through Cyprus, since it is a bloc member.”
The National Liberal Party warned that “dragging Lebanon into a full-scale war gives Israel a reason to achieve its goal and destroy the country.”
It added: “Taking Lebanon and the Lebanese to a place that the majority don’t want is considered an outside decision to hold the country hostage, which serves Iran’s doctrinal plan in the Arab region.”
It was reported on Thursday that the Cypriot embassy in Beirut had closed its doors to visa applicants. However, embassy officials said “the consulate didn’t receive on Thursday any visa applications or papers for processing, for one day only.”
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry confirmed that this had nothing to do with the comments by Nasrallah: “The decision was predetermined for administrative reasons related to raising the visa fee and the embassy’s work will resume on Friday.”
By AC Wimmer
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò on Thursday claimed that the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has initiated proceedings against him over the alleged crime of schism.
Citing a document he published on his website and posted on;social media, the former papal nuncio to the United States wrote that he was summoned to Rome on June 20 to face an extrajudicial penal process for the charges.
“I have been summoned to the Palace of the Holy Office on June 20, in person or represented by a canon lawyer,” the prelate wrote on X. “I assume that the sentence has already been prepared, given that it is an extrajudicial process.”
The specific charges outlined against Viganò involve making public statements that allegedly deny the fundamental elements necessary to maintain communion with the Catholic Church. This includes denying the legitimacy of Pope Francis as the rightful pontiff and outright rejection of the doctrines established during the Second Vatican Council.
Viganò, who served as apostolic nuncio in Washington, D.C., from 2011 to 2016, commented he regarded the accusations against him “as an honor.”
Vatican News;reported;that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has not commented on the alleged proceedings.
CNA contacted the Vatican for confirmation and comment.
Viganò made headlines in 2018 with the;allegation;— followed up by several;letters;— that senior prelates had been complicit in covering up alleged sex abuse by former cardinal;Theodore McCarrick. He also;called;on Pope Francis to resign.
According to;Vatican News, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said on Thursday in reaction to the news: “Archbishop Viganò has taken some attitudes and some actions for which he must answer.”
Parolin added: “I am very sorry because I always appreciated him as a great worker, very faithful to the Holy See, someone who was, in a certain sense, also an example. When he was apostolic nuncio he did good work.”
Daniel Payne contributed to this report.
By Matthew Olay
The transfer of humanitarian aid from Cyprus to Gaza has resumed after U.S. Central Command personnel successfully reattached the command’s temporary pier to the Gazan coastline Wednesday, the Pentagon has announced.
Centcom removed the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore pier June 14 and towed it to Ashdod, Israel, to avoid potential damage from volatile sea states.;
“I can confirm that [Centcom] personnel reanchored and reestablished the temporary pier to the Gaza beach yesterday,” Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told the media during a briefing today. ;
The reopening of the pier allowed for the overnight transfer of more than 656 metric tons — or 1.4 million pounds — of aid to be delivered to the marshaling yard in Gaza, Ryder said.;
“As has been the case in the past, Israeli Defense Force engineers provided all the necessary support to ensure the safe emplacement of the pier on the beach, and there were no U.S. boots on the ground during the reestablishment of the pier,” he added. ;
Despite having experienced some weather-caused damage and temporary shutdowns, the pier has delivered a substantial amount of aid to Gaza since last month, Ryder said.
“Since May 17, when the temporary pier first went operational, over 4,100 metric tons — or 9.1 million pounds — [of aid] have been delivered through the maritime corridor for onward delivery by humanitarian organizations,” Ryder told reporters.
During the briefing, Ryder also pushed back on some reports in the media that the Defense Department has established an end date for the overall pier mission. ;
“While it’s always been our intention for the pier to be a temporary solution as part of the broader international effort to surge humanitarian assistance into Gaza to meet the urgent needs of the Palestinian people, we have not established an end date for this mission as of now,” Ryder said.;
“Therefore, we’ll continue to facilitate the transfer of humanitarian aid via the maritime corridor,” Ryder continued.
“And, as always, [DOD will] take the necessary steps to ensure the safety and security of the personnel operating the pier; to include adjusting to sea states in the eastern Mediterranean Sea — the same way we do with aircraft operations in the event of inclement weather or conditions.”
Raya Nazaryan, an Armenian member of the Bulgarian National Assembly, was elected the speaker of the legislature on Thursday, the Bulgarian News Agency reported.
She received 131 votes in favor, 66 against and 39 abstentions. Nazaryan was backed by her parliamentary group, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and TISP, according to the Bulgarian News Agency.
The parliament nominated four lawmakers, of which Nazaryan was elected.
Born in Varna on September 16, 1985, Nazaryan has practiced law for more than 12 years, of which ten specializing in the law of obligations, real law, insurance law, family law and succession law. She has amassed ample experience in commercial, civil and administrative proceedings before Bulgarian courts.
A specialist in mediation and out-of-court settlement of legal disputes. Member of the Sofia Bar Association. Associate and co-founder of a law firm.
On June 9, Nazaryan was elected for a third term to Bulgaria’s parliament. She entered politics in 2022. She is single, with one child.