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The retirement age and the future of Social Security have been big topics this presidential election season. The topics have especially caught the attention of many working Americans amid talk about potential cuts to benefits and the future for the system itself and those who will be retiring in the coming decades.

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The United States is far from the only country dealing with these situations. Countries like France have looked at options like raising the retirement age, a move which led to big backlashes from voters.

For some more perspective, heres a look at how the standard retirement age in the U.S. compares to several European countries.

Lets start with the rules in the U.S. According to the Social Security Administration, if you retire at 62, the earliest possible Social Security retirement age, your benefit is lower than if you wait. If you were born 1960 or later, full retirement benefits are payable at age 67.

If you go by statistics, that means about one decade of full retirement since the average life expectancy in the U.S. is 77.5 years, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. According to the Mercer CFS Institute Global Pension Index, which benchmarks retirement income systems around the world, the U.S. has a score of 63. For comparison, the Netherlands is the top one with an index of 85.

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France raised the retirement age to 64, as long as the retiree worked for at least 43 years. When it comes to the Mercer Index, France is just behind the U.S. with a score of 62.

As for average life expectancy, its quite a bit higher for France than the U.S. The average life expectancy in France is over 82.

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The UK did better than the U.S. on the Mercer Index. It scored 73.

When it comes to retirement age, according to Age UK, State Pension age is gradually increasing for men and women, and will gradually rise to 67 for those born on or after April 1960. As for the average life expectancy, its about 81 in the UK.

Story continues

See: Cant Retire in the US? Why Many Americans Are Choosing This Country Instead

The retirement age in Norway is similar to the U.S. at 67. However, there are options for pension pay-outs starting around age 62.

When it comes to the Mercer Index, Norway has a score just over 74. In general, there may be more years to enjoy retirement. Norway has a high average life expectancy near 83.

Learn: 5 Countries With Easy Citizenship for Retirement

The standard retirement age in Spain is 66. Thanks to healthier lifestyles and diets, the average life expectancy in Spain is around 83.

The Spain pension system does leave some to be desired. Thats why its Mercer Index score is only about 61.

Read More: How Much House You Can Afford in Retirement in Different Countries

Along with Spain, the standard retirement age in Germany is 66. However, the plan is to bring it up to 67 by 2031.

As for the Mercer Index, its 66.8 for Germany. When it comes to the average life expectancy in Germany, its between 80 and 81 years.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: The Standard Retirement Age in the US vs. 5 European Countries

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The Standard Retirement Age in the US vs. 5 European Countries - Yahoo Finance

Retirement Isn't Always Planned, Woman In Her Late 50s Forced Into Early Retirement With Only $650,000 In Savings

In a recent discussion about retirement, two common perspectives often arise among Americans: "I'm going to have to work forever" or "I have a good retirement plan in place that will allow me to retire comfortably." However, for many, there's a middle ground that can be difficult to plan for.

Deb Hallisey, a 66-year-old New Jersey resident, faced this challenge. After losing her father in 2015, she had to pause her career to take care of her blind mother. When her billable hours continued to drop, she was let go from her job.

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Hallisey saved diligently during her career as a consultant. As a single woman, she knew she had to provide for herself. After losing her job, she continued to take care of her mother until she died in 2022. While caring for her mother, she started writing about her caregiving experience and even launched a website sharing her stories. She also wrote two books about caregiving and turned her experience into a business, speaking about caregiving and consulting for families.

Halliseys financial stability was tested despite her $600,000 in retirement savings and a $50,000 emergency fund. She draws $2,500 a month from her retirement savings and earns $500 from her business. The stock market has kept her balance at $525,000, and her home, valued at about $500,000, is mortgage-free.

This year, Hallisey plans to claim Social Security. She'll use her $3,400 monthly benefits to help with living expenses. With that, she plans to leave her retirement savings for emergencies, including future caregiving expenses that may arise for herself.

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"I'm not making enough to support myself," Hallisey told the Wall Street Journal. "But I love it."

Hallisey's story underscores a harsh reality: many Americans expect to work until they die, but health issues or caregiving responsibilities can force early retirement. Personal finance influencer Kara from TikTok points out that Hallisey's situation, though seemingly well-prepared with $650,000, is insufficient to retire comfortably in the U.S.

"This is what I think is so common," Kara says, "And its going to happen to a lot of us. A lot of people in the United States think, Oh, Ill just work until I die' ... Which is really bleak in its own way, but its also, unfortunately, not true. You are much more likely to run into a health issue, or someone elses health issue that prevents you from working, but continue to be alive, and thats how you will retire."

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Kara emphasizes the importance of planning for the possibility of early retirement due to unforeseen circumstances. It's impossible to know every little or major thing that will happen in our lives, and many retirees continue to live for decades after they retire whether that retirement was planned or not. As people age, living expenses tend to rise with the cost of medical care and other unexpected needs.

Experiences like Hallisey's demonstrate the importance of proactive financial planning and preparing for the unexpected. Retirement isn't always a choice, and it's critical to have a robust plan in place. Consulting a financial advisor can help tailor strategies to individual circumstances, ensuring better preparedness for uncertainties.

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Retirement Isn't Always Planned, Woman In Her Late 50s Forced Into Early Retirement With Only $650,000 In Savings - Yahoo Finance

Introduction

On June 21, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to implement President Bidens Executive Order 14105 (Outbound Investment Order). The NPRM builds on the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) released in August 2023. The Treasury Department is accepting public comments until August 4, 2024, and plans to release the finalized regulations later this year.

The rules seek to address what the U.S. government sees as a loophole in the trade and investment restriction tool kit. While U.S. companies have been barred from selling sensitive technologies directly to China under Department of Commerce export controls, U.S. investors have been free to continue investing in Chinese firms developing the same technologies. U.S. capital may thus be inadvertently fueling Beijings indigenization drive.

The proposed rules aim to restrict outbound U.S. investments into Chinese companies developing the troika of force-multiplier technologies: (1) semiconductors and microelectronics, (2) artificial intelligence (AI), and (3) quantum information technologies.

Broadly, the outbound investment screening mechanism (OISM) is an effort scoped to target transactions that enhance the military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities of China. U.S. investments will be either: (1) prohibited or (2) notifiable, based on whether they pose an acute national security risk or may contribute to a national security threat to the United States, respectively.

However, the criteria defining what constitutes an acute or national security risk are somewhat elastic. In certain instances, it is targeted, prohibiting investments in AI systems or quantum technologies explicitly designed for military, intelligence, cyber, or mass-surveillance end uses, which are commensurate with demonstrable national security concerns. However, the NPRM also introduces broad carveout clauses under each covered category, which effectively proscribe investments into entire classes of technology, including the development of quantum computers, AI models above certain technical parameters, and advanced packaging techniques (APT) for semiconductors. This suggests that the OISM's remit extends beyond immediate national security applications to include avenues that may allow Chinese technological leapfrogging.

Semiconductors & Microelectronics

The NPRM largely aligns with current existing export controls, apart from the addition of APT, and prohibits U.S. investments to develop, produce, design, or fabricate

The prohibition of APT under the OISM marks a shift in the U.S. approach to maintaining a competitive edge over China in the semiconductor industry. Instead of just focusing on individual chip performance gains through continuous node advancementsuch as from 7 nanometers (nm) to 5 nm to 3 nmit has started to recognize the importance of system-level performance gains afforded by APT. Current semiconductor export controls have largely fixated on obstructing Chinas access and capacity to produce chips at the most advanced nodesas seen by restrictions on high-performance chips, EDA tools, and EUV lithography machinesreflect this thinking. This was based on the long-standing assumption that the primary driver for improved chip performance will come from making transistors smaller and packing more of them onto a single chip.

However, with the slowing of Moores Law, which predicted the doubling of transistors every two years, and as transistor scaling (i.e., miniaturization) approaches fundamental physical limits, this approach may yield diminishing returns and may not be sufficient to maintain a significant lead over China in the long term.

APT helps overcome the constraints of traditional transistor scaling. They facilitate system-level performance gains through the heterogeneous integration of different chip functionalities (e.g., logic, memory, and analog) in a single, compact package, either side-by-side (2.5D integration) or stacked vertically (3D integration).

As a result of the increased proximity between components and greater density of connections within a given footprint, APT unlocks a series of cascading benefits. The reduced distance between components means that electrical signals have to travel a shorter distance (i.e., shorter interconnects), while the higher functional density enables increased bandwidth communication between chips due to the greater number of parallel communication channels available per unit area. Together, these enable faster data transfer rates as there are now more data highway lanes, which are also shorter. The advantages extend beyond just speed. Shorter interconnects are less susceptible to signal degradation, reducing latency and increasing overall reliability. Crucially, ATPs improve power efficiency since there is less resistance and capacitance to overcome.

These features are increasingly important in the context of training large frontier AI models. Current large language models (LLMs) have more than 1 trillion parameters, requiring multiple computing operations across tens of thousands of high-performance chips inside a data center. According to unverified but commonly cited leaks, the training of ChatGPT-4 required roughly 25,000 Nvidia A100 GPUs for 90100 days. Efficient training of large models demands high-bandwidth communication, low latency, and rapid data transfer between chips for both forward passes (propagating activations) and backward passes (gradient descent). These are precisely the issues that APT overcomes or mitigates. The increased power efficiency afforded by APT is also particularly important in the context of the mounting energy costs for training and running LLMs.

Importantly, APT could potentially allow China to technologically leapfrog the United States in AI. By focusing on APT innovation and data-center architecture improvements to increase parallelization and throughput, Chinese companies could compensate for the lower individual performance of older chips and produce powerful aggregate training runs comparable to U.S. AI labs.

In addition to the prohibitions above, the OISM also requires notifications for

The U.S. government is seeking greater visibility on a range of semiconductor-related investments, albeit retroactively within 30 days, as part of its information-gathering exercise.

AI Systems

AI systems are the most open-ended section of the NPRM. It both narrowly targets problematic end uses while containing broad clauses that could sweep in multiple advanced Chinese consumer AI models. It prohibits the development of AI systems that are designed for restricted end uses or that exceed certain technical parameters, including

The OISM also proposes notifications for AI systems that are:

For the uninitiated, FLOP measures the amount of computational power (i.e., compute) required to train an AI system. It is used as a proxy for the capabilities of AI systems as advancements in AI from 2012 have closely correlated with increased compute.

As a reference marker, an AI model that is 10^23, 10^24 or 10^25 FLOP roughly corresponds to the size of ChatGPT-3, 3.5, and 4, respectively. The Treasury Department is still deciding among the compute alternatives and will likely set the relevant amount of compute under notifiable transactions below the amount of compute for the corresponding prohibited transactions (i.e., if 10^24 FLOP is selected for prohibited investments, notifiable investments will be set at 10^23 FLOP).

In terms of the Chinese landscape, according to Epoch AI, as of April 2024, there were no known Chinese AI models above 10^25 FLOP, 5 Chinese AI models above 10^24 FLOP (Qwen-72B by Alibaba, XVERSE-65B by XVERSE Technology, Chat GLM 3 by Zhipu Ai, Tigerbot-70B by Tigerobo, and ERNIE 3.0 TITAN by Baidu), and 14 Chinese AI models above 10^23 FLOP (Qwen-7B by Alibaba, Qwen-14B by Alibaba, Yuan 1.0 by Inspur, GLM-130B by Tsinghua University, xTrimoPGLM-100B by Tsinghua University, Blue LM-13B by vivo AI lab, Naibeige-16B by Nanbeige LLM Lab, Skywork-13B by Kunlun Inc, Baichuan2-13B by Baichuan, CodeFuse-13B by Ant Group, DeepSeek Coder 33B by DeepSeek, DeepSeek LLM 67B by Deepseek, PanGu- by Huawei Noah's Ark Lab, and Yi-34B by 01.AI).

The reason the United States has included general-purpose frontier AI models under the prohibited category is likely because they can be fine-tuned at low cost to carry out malicious or subversive activities, such as creating autonomous weapons or unknown malware variants. Fine-tuning refers to the process of taking a pretrained AI model, which has already learned generalizable patterns and representations from a larger dataset, and further training it on a smaller, more specific dataset to adapt the model for a particular task. Similarly, the use of biological sequence data could enable the production of biological weapons or provide actionable instructions for how to do so.

The use of compute benchmarks, however, especially in the context of national security risks, is somewhat arbitrary. Unlike nuclear weapons, for example, AI does not have a comparable enrichment metric that marks a transition to weaponization. In addition, the compute used to train a model does not necessarily reflect its potential for malicious use. Smaller, specialized models trained on high-quality data can outperform larger, general-purpose models on specific tasks. For example, the landmark experiment that has become the poster child for how AI can manufacture novel pathogens used a model built on a public database in 2020 that would fall well under the 10^23 threshold. Furthermore, different types of AI-enabled threats have different computational requirements. AI-enabled cyberattacks, for example, might be effectively conducted with just modestly capable models.

Moreover, compute benchmarks that define the state of the art are a moving needle. In 2020, there were only 11 models which exceeded 10^23 FLOP. As of 2024, this has grown to 81 models. And as advances in hardware drive down costs and algorithmic progress increases compute efficiency, smaller models will increasingly access what are now considered dangerous capabilities.

Lastly, there are potential workarounds for determined adversarial agents. They can chain together multiple smaller models, each trained below the compute threshold, to create a system with capabilities comparable to a large frontier model or simply fine-tune an existing and freely available advanced open-source model from GitHub.

Quantum Information Technology

Unlike semiconductors, microelectronics, and AI systems, there are no notifiable transactions for quantum information technology. The NPRM prohibits wholesale U.S. investments to develop or produce

The first two categories contain end use provisions targeting military, intelligence, or mass surveillance applications, with the latter specifically targeting the use of quantum technologies for encryption breaking and quantum key distribution.

These prohibitions aim at obvious and direct national security concerns. Unlike other quantum technology subcategories, the potential defense applications of quantum sensors are relatively clear and achievable in the near to mid-term. According to a report by the Institute for Defense Analyses, within the next five years, China could leverage quantum sensors to enhance its counter-stealth, counter-submarine, image detection, and position, navigation, and timing capabilities. Quantum computing also threatens to break current encryption standards, posing warranted cybersecurity risks.

The NPRM also prohibits U.S. investments to develop or produce quantum computers and their components in China entirely. The rules estimate that, while significant technical challenges remain given the early state of the technology, there is a window of opportunity to restrict Chinese access to critical developments in the field. This contrasts with semiconductor export controls, which were implemented after significant technological diffusion had already occurred and China had developed native industry strengths. By acting preemptively, the United States is aiming to maintain a technological advantage in quantum from the outset.

The notifications required under the OISM will call for companies to provide detailed information about their investments in China, providing a dynamic, high-resolution snapshot of the Chinese investment landscape. This data will be fed back to the U.S. government, providing visibility on aggregate and sectoral trends and enabling a bidirectional feedback loop to fine-tune or strengthen export controls and investment screening based on gaps or deficits. In addition, by triangulating various notifications, this system could identify stealth technological developments in China that may have slipped under the radar and serve as a tripwire for potentially problematic Chinese transactions into the United States under the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which screens inbound investments for national security risks.

The OISM goes beyond existing rules in several ways. It not only fills a policy gap but sets up a data flywheel that could introduce complementary effects with adjacent tools, such as export controls and inbound investment screening.

The effectiveness of the proposed OISM hinges on a number of assumptions: (1) that the withdrawal of U.S. capital will be damaging to the Chinese technological landscape, and (2) that U.S. technology scaling know-how and tacit knowledge, which have to date been bundled together with capital, are nonreplicable.

Data from the Rhodium Group shows that U.S. venture capital in China has already fallen off from the peak of $14.4 billion in 2018 to $1.3 billion in 2022. More work also needs to be done to estimate the level of expected backfilling from Chinese domestic and non-U.S. foreign investors. Moreover, while the United States has historically held a significant advantage in scaling technology companies globally, Chinese companies have made significant strides over the past decade. China may well have enough industry veterans and accumulated know-how to coach and mentor the next wave of Chinese champions.

The United States will also need to secure allied buy-in. Encouragingly, the United States has already started to socialize outbound investment screening at the G7 and is also exploring the inclusion of an excepted states clause similar to the one under CFIUS.

Barath Harithas is a senior fellow in the Project on Trade and Technology at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

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Anatomy of a Technology Blockade: Unpacking the Outbound Investment Order - CSIS | Center for Strategic and International Studies

A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.

Theres nothing like a good chess match to heat up a Cold War.

On July 11, 1972, the World Chess Championship opened as grandmasters Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union began play in Reykjavik, Iceland.

It must be said, Fischer, from Brooklyn, New York, was a hard man to like. A true prodigy, he was arrogant and standoffish. News reports of the day labeled him as a tough and aggressive opponent, but he was prone to throw tantrums, be petulant and belittle others.

His match with the classical Spassky became an image of the Cold War, fought on a chess board in Iceland, of all places. Non-chess fans began following the games, and news organizations reported on it. One can only imagine what the frenzied following would be today in this social media world.

Fischer lost the first match and forfeited the second, as he complained about everything and everyone.

But then the American caught fire, and over the next 30 days built a significant lead.

And newspapers of the day followed the contest. Americans loved his antics. It was called the Match of the Century.

On Sept. 1, Spassky resigned the match just as Game 21 was to resume. He actually conceded by phone, perhaps fed up with the Americans antics.

Fischer won $250,000. He is still the only American to win the World Chess Championship. Russian-born players had dominated the sport for decades.

After a challenging life where the chess prodigy seemed often at odds with the world, and maybe himself, over a variety of issues, Fischer died in early 2008 at age 64. He died in Reykjavik, site of his famous triumph.

Fischers victory was widely seen as a symbolic triumph for democracy over Communism, and it turned the new champion into an unlikely American hero. He was invited to the White House by President Richard M. Nixon, interviewed on television, hounded by journalists, wooed unsuccessfully by commercial interests. Sales of chess sets skyrocketed; so did fees for chess lessons, as scores of poverty-stricken chess players benefited from the cachet that Fischer had conferred on them, his Associated Press obituary read.

Here are a selection of stories from the Deseret News archives:

Defiant Spassky vows to send Bobby Fischer back into obscurity

U.S.s only world champion found lost again

Chess master Bobby Fischer is dead at 64

Bobby Fischer lives on at Sundance Film Festival

Icelandic court allows exhumation of Bobby Fischer

Is Bobby Fischer fishing for trouble?

`Bobby Fischer celebrates the wonder of a sane genius

Most consider Garry Kasparov, Magnus Carlsen and Fischer as the greatest chess players of all time.

Im sure there is a computer somewhere that would disagree.

The most recent world chess drama involves Carlsen, rival Hans Niemann and cheating allegations. But it might be a fork/double attack. Maybe a decoy/deflection?

World chess champion resigned from match after first move. Heres what happened

Chess cheating scandal whats in the 72-page report?

Link:

Deseret News archives: Fischer beat Spassky in chess Match of the Century - Yahoo! Voices

Amid the heightened crypto volatility fueled by institutional investors, Binance Coin (BNB) has registered a notable spike in whale activity. According to on-chain data provided by BscScan, a whale named Capybara_bnb deposited 200k BNB, worth about $103 million, to the Binance exchange earlier this week.

As of this writing, the Capybara_bnb whale holds about 203,609 BNB, worth around $103 million. With heightened crypto fear, which stands around 25 percent based on the fear and greed index, more sales by Capybara_bnb could trigger further BNB price capitulation ahead.

The BNB price action has closely mirrored that of Bitcoin in the past, thus expected to follow similar price action ahead. Most crypto analysts believe that the crypto industry will enter into a fakeout consolidation before a major bullish breakout later this year.

As a result, BNBs price could drop as much as $450 in the coming weeks before establishing a reversal pattern. Furthermore, BNB price on the daily time frame has formed a possible double top coupled with a bearish divergence on the weekly Relative Strength Index.

The large-cap altcoin, with a fully diluted valuation of about $80 billion and a daily average traded volume of around $1 billion, has dropped around 14 percent in the past four weeks to hover about $528 on Friday

, July 12, 2024.

The Binance network has grown to a vibrant web3 ecosystem, with more than $5 billion in stablecoins market cap and over $4.4 billion in total value locked. The Binance web3 ecosystem has thrived in non-western nations following the regulatory crackdown led by the United States.

However, as we previously reported, the Binance ecosystem has been counting on a major win after a United States court dismissed claims filed by the SEC that the exchange violated securities laws vial the initial BNB secondary sales.

With the current Binance top executives, led by CEO Richard Teng, focused on quality customer service, it is safe to assume the network will continue to grow in the coming years. As we recently reported, the Binance team will conduct its Second Sunset Fork to merge the BNB Beacon chain with the BSC Chain.

After more than a year of impressive bullish performance, Bitcoin price will begin to be outshined by the altcoin industry soon. Most of the altcoins are trading in their bear market lows against Bitcoin, but the trend will soon change.

Moreover, Bitcoin dominance is on the cusp of a macro reversal, which will accelerate the ongoing crypto cash rotation. As CNF previously reported, the inevitable final approval of spot Ether ETFs in the United States will trigger a fresh altcoin season ahead

https://x.com/el_crypto_prof/status/1811683244468822211?s=46

In this regard, it is safe to assume that more investors will tap into the BNB ecosystem, which has deep liquidity and the necessary infrastructure to support more traders.

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BNB Drops After Whale Moves $103 Million: Whats Next for Binance Coin? - Crypto News Flash

Global crypto trading is only just beginning to take off, as a study from CoinWire predicts that industry trading volume will exceed $108 trillion by the end of 2024.

The study revealed that the end-of-year estimate is 90% higher than in 2022. The United States leads with the highest projected crypto trading volume for the year, surpassing $2 trillion.

While the US may lead in crypto trading volume, Europe leads the market in global cryptocurrency transaction value, accounting for 37.32%.

Europe is one of the most proactive regions in the world when it comes to defining its cryptocurrency industry through regulations. These regulations are designed to help lawmakers understand financial technology and provide traders and exchanges with clear guidelines for navigating the market.

The European Unions landmark Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation came into partial effecton June 30, focusing on stablecoins. In December, additional regulations for crypto asset service providers are set to come into effect.

This legislative framework, which has been in the works since 2020, is the EUs first set of uniform market rules for crypto assets.

Related: EU elections 2024: Pro-crypto parties pick up seats amid Green losses

The survey expects Europes cryptocurrency trading volume to hit $40.5 trillion in 2024, a 2.7-fold increase from its $15 trillion in 2022.

Asia ranks second with 36.17% of the worlds cryptocurrency transaction value.

The conclusions found in the study were made by analyzing centralized exchanges with trust scores higher than six on CoinGecko based on web traffic by country, supported languages, headquarters location and trading time zones.

Another finding revealed that Binance dominates in over 100 countries worldwide in the crypto exchange market, with a trading volume of $2.77 trillion. Binance.US was also dominant in the same number of countries, although it has a lower trading volume of $3.9 billion.

According to the study, this makes Binance the most widely used exchange worldwide. On July 5, the exchangecelebrated its seventh anniversary and the milestone of reaching 200 million users worldwide.

Following Binance are OKX and Cex.io, with a presence in 93 and 92 countries, respectively, and trading volumes of $759 billion and $1.83 billion.

Coinbase and Bybit operate in 90 and 87 countries, respectively, and their trading volumes are $662 billion and $1.14 trillion.

Magazine: Decade after Ethereum ICO: Blockchain forensics end double-spending debate

See the article here:

Crypto trading volume to exceed $108T in 2024, with Europe in the lead - Cointelegraph

KANSAS CITY As the organic market matures and grapples with inflationary headwinds, significant sectors, including bread, breakfast cereal and baby food, continue to show growth, according to the Organic Trade Association. Increasing organic wheat supply, finding a diverse set of ingredient suppliers and funding from the US Department of Agriculture are boosting the category as well.

US organic product sales reached $69.7 billion in 2023, up 3.4% from the previous year, according to the Organic Trade Association, Washington. Food sales made up $63.8 billion of that total.

In the grocery category, sales increased 4.1% to $15.4 billion. Within grocery, in-store bakery and fresh bread were up nearly 3% to $3.1 billion, dry breakfast goods were up about 8% to $1.8 billion, and baby food and formula were up nearly 11% to $1.5 billion.

Organic wheat supply in the United States rebounded solidly in 2023-24. Commodity analysts at Argus Media Group, Houston, in May estimated US organic wheat production at 24.41 million bus for the 2023-24 marketing year, which was up 22% from 19.96 million bus in the previous marketing year. Argus projected organic wheat production will increase to 25.32 million bus in 2024-25.

So far, in the US, this year has seen organic wheat markets rebound after several years of drought, insect pressure and higher-priced conventional markets, leading to a reduction in organic acres as growers considered their seeding options, said Sam Beveridge, director of emerging nutrition risk and grower relations at Ardent Mills, Denver. Recently, adequate moisture levels across hard red winter regions and spring wheat regions in the northern tier states and Canadian prairies have helped to drive supply to meet the current demand.

As a result, we have seen prices move lower on anticipated supply, which allows growers to expand and have different sellable crops, some of which they have not seen for the past couple years. Still, current carryout stocks remain tight through new crop, which is reflective in the price inverse.

Consumer dietary shifts and a growing consciousness about health are helping propel organic demand, he said. Data from Ardent Mills show 77% of consumers believe grain-based organic foods are healthier and better for them, and 72% said they believe grain-based organic foods are better for the environment.

Despite the promising outlook, various factors may affect organic supply, including economic conditions and weather patterns, Beveridge said. Rising inflation may impact growers entry into the organic sector, which requires years of adherence to organic practices for certification.

Additionally, weather fluctuations, such as the shift from El Nio to La Nia, will impact various growing regions differently. For example, organic wheat fields in the Pacific Northwest may benefit from improved moisture conditions, but organic wheat fields in the central US have seen almost too much moisture, causing concern for sprouting among wheat crops.

Ardent Mills has expanded in the organic category. The company in 2019 acquired a grain elevator in Klamath Falls, Ore., that enhanced its ability to source from organic wheat growers in the Pacific Northwest, according to the company. In 2021, the acquisition of Hinrichs Trading Co., a company involved in chickpea sourcing, cleaning and packaging, included the acquisition of a grain elevator in Shelby, Mont., which allowed Ardent Mills to source organic wheat from Montana and Canadian prairies.

Ardent Mills organic portfolio also includes ancient grains such as quinoa, amaranth, millet, sorghum, teff and buckwheat available in several formats such as flour, said Michael Rhodes, senior research and development dough systems specialist.

These increasingly popular gluten-free, non-GMO wheat alternatives have been found to work well in multi-grain mixes to create unique textures and flavor profiles in bread, he said. Additionally, we also offer organic heirloom wheat grains like spelt.

Bay State Milling Co., Quincy, Mass., has supplied organic wheat flour for decades, said Connor Bullum, organic commodity merchandiser.

BSM has invested in the organic supply chain by producing organic flour at four separate mills and has recently converted the Platteville, Colo., location to 100% organic wheat flour production, and we continue to originate over more than half of our total organic wheat needs directly from farmers, he said.

Besides wheat flour, Bay State Milling offers flour from grains such as rice, sorghum, millet and oats, Bullum said.

We see customers using these flours in gluten-free breads, as these are inherently gluten-free offerings, but also as inclusions and toppings to wheat-based bread, he said.

ResearchAndMarkets.com, Dublin, forecasts the global organic baby food market will increase to $8.10 billion in 2028 from $4.55 billion in 2023 through a compound annual growth rate of 12%.

Sales are up 61% over last year at Once Upon a Farm, Berkeley, Calif., said Emily Luna, baby and toddler manager for the company. She added sales within the baby business are four times higher than they were in 2022.

Luna said the increase has come through new product lines, including frozen toddler pasta meals and baby and toddler pantry snacks, consumers shifting toward organic, increased brand awareness and expanded distribution into retail in fresh, frozen and dry categories.

The baby and toddler portfolio at Once Upon a Farm includes fresh, organic, cold-pressed refrigerated pouches, shelf-stable pantry snacks and frozen plant-rich meals.

We have a very talented procurement team that manages a lot of complexity, said Jane Kuhn, sustainability manager at Once Upon a Farm.

The company develops multiple suppliers representing different geographies for each ingredient.

This helps us maintain a steady supply through different seasons and positions us to be more resilient amidst supply chain shocks due to weather events, Kuhn said.

The USDA in May announced new programs, partnerships, grant awards and an additional $10 million in funding to expand the markets for organic products and help producers transition to organic production. The USDAs Agricultural Marketing Service awarded about $24.8 million for 23 grant projects through the Organic Market Development Grant program.

Offsetting the costs for organic transition helps more farmers realize higher margins sooner while giving consumers more access to high-demand organic products, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

The Organic Trade Association and The Organic Center received $2.2 million in Organic Market Development Grant matching funds from the USDA.

We thank USDA for making this project possible with this important funding, said Tom Chapman, co-chief executive officer of the OTA.

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A United States judge has declined to dismiss several claims brought against crypto exchange Binance by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The case was filed in June 2023 by the SEC chairman Gary Gensler who accused Binance of offering securities without registering them and operating in the United States without authorization.

In a June 28 court filing, Judge Jacksons decision allowed some claims to proceed to trial while dismissing others. Jackson permitted the SEC to continue with claims related to Binances BNB staking program, anti-fraud violations, and the sale of BNB coins following its ICO.

The SEC also proved its allegations that Changpeng CZ Zhao, the founder of Binance, was a control person and the allegations that Binance should have registered under the Exchange Act.

However, Judge Jackson dismissed the allegations related to the secondary market sale of Binances BNB tokens, relying on a similar decision of the SEC in the Ripple case. She also dismissed suggestions concerning the Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin and the exchanges Simple Earn passive income tool.

The decision is a major step in the legal battle over the status of virtual property. This is in line with the previous judicial decisions that have emphasized the need to appreciate the economic aspect of token sales under the Howey Test.

Nevertheless, Binance has faced legal problems and is still the biggest exchange for cryptocurrencies with more than 200 million users and assets of over $100 billion. The case remains in the limelight as it moves through the legal process with a court session set for July 9th.

This ruling by Jackson is somewhat favorable for Binance and the SEC at the same time, which has implications for the regulation of cryptocurrencies in the United States.

Also Read: Binance Steps Up Compliance Efforts Against Account Misuse

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US Judge Refuses to Dismiss Claims against Binance - Crypto Times

The event showcased urgency for formal recognition of Hinduphobia via initiatives like H.Res 1131

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Lawmakers, Hindu students, researchers, and community leaders came together in a packed room during the 3rd National Hindu Advocacy Day on the Hill, to discuss the concerns Hindus living in the US face. Close to 25 lawmakers (a mix of congressional representatives and staffers both Democrat and Republican) attended the event, organized by the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA) which highlighted the multi-pronged attacks Hindus face. These range from the continued usage of stereotypical colonial frameworks, to gaslighting and verbal slurs, and all the way to the vandalizations of multiple temples. Over 100 delegates (including a large number of Hindu youth) from 15 states attended the event and 40 plus core CoHNA volunteers visited over 115 congressional offices to advocate support for H.Res.1131, which condemns Hinduphobia and attacks on temples, while celebrating the contribution of the Hindu American community. Watch vignettes from the day here.

"From students to retired community members of diverse backgrounds, CoHNA's Advocacy Day has grown steadily to become an important mechanism through which our community engages with lawmakers on the Hill," remarked CoHNA President Nikunj Trivedi. "We are also glad to see other organizations as well as non-Hindu allies join us in support of the causes that matter to our community and especially our youth."

The highlight of the event was the multiplicity of student voices. Attendees heard heartfelt personal testimony from a powerful panel of Hindu students from Stanford, UC Berkeley, and University of Georgia. They delved into the challenges they face on campus, in academic settings, and even in their dorm rooms. Their voices and stories brought home the prevalent Hinduphobia on campus and the way it shapes their lives and the choices they make.

Rutvij Holay spoke of being mocked for having a small space for Hindu worship in his dorm room and of having to console a close Kashmiri friend who was traumatized by the display of on-campus displays sanitizing the ethnic cleansing his community had faced. Aryan Sawant shared his isolation in being an openly proud Hindu on campus and having to deal with the disapproval of peers. He highlighted the misinformation by professors who deny anti-Hindu hate, even as they peddle it by denying the religious nature of recorded pogroms against Hindus around the world such as the 1971 Bengali Hindu Genocide. Anvita Yerramsetty shared how growing awareness of anti-Hindu hate in her high school years strengthened her resolve to stay proud of her roots and reshaped her decision and research on something as fundamental as where to apply and go to college.

Surya Naga, the Youth Director for Hindu on Campus, presented data collected from student testimonials across the United States and the impact of such experiences on a student's psyche - from students being told to wipe off the bindis on their foreheads and attempts to rip of their sacred threads, to being made fun of for worshiping Hindu deities with "weird names," to being accused of supporting extremism and oppression of minorities just because of one's Hindu identity, etc.

American Hindus have just lived through a turbulent year and these issues were highlighted throughout the event. Data shows a rise in hate against Hindus. Academic Hinduphobia has been amplified as a result of the turmoil on college campuses and Hindu students shared personal stories of the many ways they get targeted on campus. And even sacred spaces are not safe -- SIX Hindu temples were attacked in California between Nov. 2023-Jan. 2024, with no resulting action and little lasting outrage. A detailed list of the incidents waspublished in April.

Congressional Support

The event began with Congressman Max Miller (R-OH), talking about the importance of freedom of religion and sharing how proud he was for supporting H.Res 1131. He expressed empathy with the issues the Hindu community has been facing, and assured that he would continue to stand against all forms of hate and bigotry throughout the country. He acknowledged that it was a tough time for the country, but that he would be there for the Hindu community: "If anything were to happen to your community, I'll be there standing shoulder to shoulder with you." He also asked the audience to stand strong and never back away from their values.

CoHNA was excited to host the force behind H.Res 1131 - Congressman Shri Thanedar (D-MI) - who stressed he will not tolerate Hinduphobia, discrimination, or other forms of hate. "We are here and we are fighting," he said, drawing attention to "the voice you all have, the voice the Hindu community has in Congress." Thanedar spoke of why H.Res. 1131 was needed in the first place and also shared his own immigration story as a way of illustrating the great American story and the ability to surmount hurdles.

Sharing his excitement at being back at CoHNA's event, Congressman Rich McCormick (R-GA) welcomed the continued and growing engagement of the Hindu American and Indian American community in policy making and its potential to transform the future of America. He called attention to his support for H.Res 1131, honoring the contributions of Hindu Americans, and asked the community to continue pursuing the American dream which celebrates innovation, hard work, success, AND its traditions.

Other lawmakers like Congressman Glen Grothman (R-WI) also expressed solidarity with the community and congratulated CoHNA for being a force in advocating for the community

Closing out the day, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) celebrated the growth of the community's advocacy over the past decade, and lauded CoHNA's efforts in ensuring the community has a growing voice on Capitol Hill via advocacy events. He exhorted everyone to be proud of who they are and congratulated the audience on making time to come to DC for an event that exemplified pride in their heritage and roots.

Several lawmakers also spoke about the importance of tackling immigration - especially problems like the Green Card backlog - an issue that has an outsized impact on the Hindu American immigrant community.

In addition to lawmakers and staffers, the event was also attended by community leaders and representatives from various organizations such as HinduACTion, Howard County Jewish Advocacy Group (HoCoJAG), ISKCON, Association of United Hindu and Jain Temples, Americans for Hindus (A4H), Indian Cultural Association of Howard County, etc.

Data and Research

Aaron Gross, Research Fellow at Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), highlighted the alarming rise of Hinduphobia in North America, driven by the Khalistan extremist movement and attacks on temples, along with the need for law enforcement to tackle online hate before it escalates into further violence. NCRI's analysis of online chatter surrounding real life anti-Hindu hate incidents (attacks on temples, vandalization of Gandhi statues, etc.) pointed to the involvement of Khalistan movement supporters, a group advocating for the creation of a separate Sikh nation out of Punjab, India. Each attack was preceded and followed by a spike in online posts promoting violence, powered by a bot network designed to amplify anti-Hindu sentiment. Often, these posts include videos from Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, leader of Sikhs for Justice, who openly incites his followers to target Hindus in Canada, US, and India. Interestingly, about 20% of these Twitter accounts purport to be from Pakistan, where Sikhs constitute less than 0.02% of the population. This suggests that many of these accounts do not genuinely support Sikh separatism but are driven by Hinduphobia and geo political considerations.

Rana Reddy, CoHNA's Policy Fellow, shared his analysis of a report recently published by Carnegie Mellon University. He showed how geo-political players use Hinduism to target India even though India is a secular country. And in a digital world, these anti-India tropes are used to target Hindus across the globe. The key report findings - organized cybercrime, bot networks, and sophisticated disinformation tactics to propagate Hinduphobia globally by exploiting/misrepresenting Indian political narratives for targeted information attacks. He concluded that counter strategies and reporting mechanisms are required by private distribution platforms to mitigate this digital threat through robust cybersecurity measures and international regulatory bodies.

About CoHNA

CoHNA is a grassroots level advocacy and civil rights organization dedicated to improving the understanding of Hinduism in North America by working on matters related to the Hindu community and by educating the public about Hindu heritage and tradition. For more information, please visithttps://cohna.org or follow us onTwitter,Facebook,LinkedIn and onInstagram.

SOURCE Coalition of Hindus of North America

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Testimony on Persistent Targeting of American Hindu Students and Attacks on Hindu Temples Resonate at CoHNA's ... - PR Newswire