TIASSALÉ, Ivory Coast: Cocoa farmers across Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest producer of the key ingredient for chocolate, are down in the dumps after prices for their commodity have fallen for the second year running. Not so in M’Brimbo, a village in central Ivory Coast which 11 years ago became a testing ground for organic cocoa farming and today is prospering.

WASHINGTON: Fears the shutdown of a major fuel pipeline network would cause a gasoline shortage led to some panic buying and prompted US regulators on Tuesday to temporarily suspend clean fuel requirements in three eastern states and the nation’s capital. 

MONTCLAIR, New Jersey: It has been a long road for electric cars in the United States, but myriad announcements by major automakers signal they are at last moving towards the mainstream. 

WASHINGTON: A handful of US states have announced they will end extra unemployment benefits provided by the federal government, which they blame for creating a shortage of workers. 

BRUSSELS: The EU yesterday sharply revised its growth forecasts for this year and next, saying an accelerated vaccination drive and the bloc’s landmark recovery plan would lift Europe out of recession. “Recovery is no longer a mirage. It is under way,” EU economic affairs commissioner Paolo Gentiloni told a media conference.

TOKYO: The global microchip shortage dragging on the auto industry has put barely a dent in production at Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, thanks to lessons it learned after Japan’s 2011 tsunami disaster. 

PARIS: Hundreds of cities have no climate adaptation plans in place despite rising threats like floods, heatwaves and pollution, according to a report yesterday that said this could put 400 million people at risk across the world.

NEW YORK: From large corporations calling employees back to business district skyscrapers to the return of lunchtime lines at salad bars: signs that workers are returning to New York’s offices, albeit in “hybrid” mode for now, are multiplying. 

SOMERSBY, Australia: Beekeepers in New Zealand are seeking the exclusive right to use the “manuka” label for their honey, pitting them against rival Australian farmers over a prestige product that can fetch hundreds of dollars per jar.