**Politics **

1. Islamic State, a Sunni jihadist terrorist group that once controlled swathes of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for an attack in Iran on Wednesday that killed at least 84 people. IS has long targeted Iran, a predominantly Shia state. The two explosions took place in the southern city of Kerman during a ceremony to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Qassem Suleimani, an Iranian general.

伊斯蘭國是一個遜尼派聖戰恐怖組織，曾經控制著伊拉克和敘利亞的大片領土。該組織聲稱對周三在伊朗發生的一起襲擊負責，造成至少84人死亡。伊斯蘭國長期以來一直將伊朗視為主要什葉派國家的目標。兩次爆炸事件發生在南部城市克爾曼，正值紀念伊朗將軍卡西姆·蘇萊馬尼逝世週年的儀式期間。
2. An American air strike in Baghdad killed the commander of an Iran-backed militia based in Iraq. In Lebanon Hizbullah, another militia supported by Iran, said that four of its members had been killed in an Israeli air strike near the border with Israel. Tensions in the region have been escalating further after the killing of a senior Hamas official by drone in Beirut on Tuesday.

美國在巴格達的一次空襲中殺死了一名駐伊拉克的伊朗支持民兵組織的指揮官。在黎巴嫩，由伊朗支持的另一個民兵組織—真主黨，表示在距離以色列邊境附近遭到以色列空襲，造成四名成員喪生。在上周二，一架無人機在貝魯特擊斃哈馬斯高級官員後，該地區的緊張局勢進一步升級。
3. Myanmar’s junta announced it would free over 9,000 prisoners to mark the country’s Independence Day, though there was no indication that the figure would include any of the country’s 17,000 political prisoners. The country’s oppressive government has suffered a series of astonishing military defeats since an offensive launched by a rebel coalition of ethnic armies last October.

緬甸的軍政府宣布將釋放超過9,000名囚犯，以紀念該國的獨立日，儘管沒有跡象顯示這個數字中是否包括該國的17,000名政治犯。自去年十月由少數民族軍聯合發動的攻勢以來，該國壓迫性的政府已經遭受了一系列驚人的軍事挫敗。
Economy

4. Farmers in Poland resumed their blockade of the Medyka border crossing with Ukraine, having suspended the action over Christmas. Their aims include securing increased subsidies for corn, preventing tax hikes and banning some Ukrainian agricultural produce. The farmers will rejoin Polish truckers, who are protesting against what they see as unfair competition from their Ukrainian counterparts caused by EU rule changes following Russia’s invasion.

波蘭農民恢復對烏克蘭的Medyka邊境口岸的封鎖行動，他們在聖誕節期間暫停了這一舉措。他們的目標包括爭取增加玉米補貼、阻止稅收上漲以及禁止一些烏克蘭農產品的進口。這些農民將與波蘭的卡車司機重新聯合，後者正在抗議因俄羅斯入侵後歐盟改變規則所帶來的他們認為不公平的競爭，這使得烏克蘭卡車司機在歐盟市場上更具競爭力。
5. **Germany’s **annual inflation rate rose to 3.8% in December, up from 2.3% in November and its highest rate in three months. The increase, lower than expected, was driven by a reduction in subsidies for food and fuel. The rise might cause the European Central Bank to consider delaying interest-rate cuts, which some hoped would start as soon as March.

德國12月份的年度通脹率上升至3.8%，較11月的2.3%上升，為三個月來的最高水平。這一增幅低於預期，主要是由於食品和燃料補貼的減少。這種上升可能會促使歐洲央行考慮延遲降息，有些人希望這將在三月份開始。
6. CMOC group, a Chinese mining company, became the world’s biggest cobalt producer, boosting its production by over 170% in 2023 to overtake Glencore, its Swiss-based rival. But surging output and falling demand for consumer electronics caused the price of the metal, which is important for making batteries, to tumble by 30% in 2023.

洛陽欒川鉬業集團股份有限公司(簡稱洛陽鉬業或洛鉬)成為全球最大的鈷生產商，該公司在2023年將其產量提高了超過170%，超越了瑞士競爭對手Glencore。然而，由於生產大幅增加和消費電子需求下降，這種對於製造電池至關重要的金屬的價格在2023年下跌了30%。

7. Carrefour, a supermarket giant, said it will stop selling products from PepsiCo due to “unacceptable price increases”. Shoppers in Belgium, France, Italy and Spain will have to go elsewhere for products such as Lipton Ice Tea, Quaker Oats and Doritos crisps. Food prices in France are estimated to have risen 7.1% in the 12 months to December.

超市巨頭家樂福表示，由於「無法接受的價格上漲」，將停止售賣百事可樂公司的產品。在比利時、法國、義大利和西班牙的顧客將需要在其他地方購買立頓冰茶、桂格燕麥和多力多滋等產品。法國的食品價格據估計在截至12月的12個月內上漲了7.1%。

小撇步:
Why do we have chemicals in our food? From CNBC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssu3MR6ql4k

More than half of the calories consumed in an average household in the U.S. or U.K. comes from ultra-processed foods.
Consumption is already high in the developed world and rapidly increasing in developing countries. However, recent scientific studies have linked eating UPF with serious health issues like diabetes, obesity, and even cancer.

Although current studies cannot prove causation, experts believe reducing UPF in a diet is essential for overall well-being.
"Eating this stuff regularly, every single day, every meal, accumulating all these chemicals in our body, they make us overeat by 25%," said Tim Spector, a professor of epidemiology at King's College London and the co-founder of ZOE – a personalized nutrition app.

"Most of the ultra-processed food that you find are higher in salt, fat and sugar. They are designed extremely tasty, they're ready to eat and they are aggressively marketed, especially to children", Dr Kiara Chang of Imperial College London noted. In the U.K., where 1 in 4 people are obese, there are growing calls for the food industry and the government to act and offer healthier options to the population.

The $128 billion British food and beverage industry is the largest manufacturing sector in the country, employing more than 400,000 people.
"We are calling for food sector companies to report a set of health and sustainability metrics that would be on a mandatory basis," said Sophie Lawrence, who leads a group of investors called the Investor Coalition for Food Policy, managing assets worth $7 trillion.

"We need to make sure that the government and businesses are acting to actually change the food environment people are living in," said Rebecca Tobi, senior business and investment manager at the Food Foundation. So, could ultra-processed food be taken off the menu? Watch the video to find out.

在美國或英國的一個普通家庭中，超過一半的卡路里來自超加工食品。在已開發世界，食品消費已經很高，而在發展中國家則在迅速增加。然而，最近的科學研究將食用超加工食品與嚴重的健康問題，如糖尿病、肥胖，甚至癌症聯繫在一起。儘管目前的研究無法證明因果關係，專家們認為減少飲食中的超加工食品對整體健康至關重要。
倫敦國王學院流行病學教授、ZOE個性化營養應用的聯合創始人Tim Spector表示："定期進食這些東西，每一天，每一餐，將所有這些化學物質積聚在我們的身體中，會使我們多吃25%。"倫敦帝國學院的Kiara Chang博士指出："你在這些超加工食品中發現的大多數都含有更多的鹽、脂肪和糖。它們被設計得非常美味，是即食食品，而且在市場上進行積極推廣，尤其是對兒童。"在英國，有四分之一的人口肥胖，有越來越多的呼籲要求食品行業和政府采取行動，為人民提供更健康的選擇。
英國價值1280億美元的食品和飲料行業是該國最大的製造業部門，僱傭著超過40萬人。投資者聯盟for Food Policy的領導者Sophie Lawrence表示："我們呼籲食品行業公司向健康和可持續性指標報告，並將其作為強制基礎。"Food Foundation的高級業務和投資經理Rebecca Tobi表示："我們需要確保政府和企業實際上正在改變人們所處的食品環境。"那麼，超加工食品是否能夠從菜單上被刪除呢？觀看視頻以了解更多。
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