Magnum.Media App

After months of negotiations, President Biden signed into law a foreign aid package on Wednesday that includes tens of billions of dollars in assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, along with a measure that could lead to a ban on TikTok in the U.S.

The White House first sought the foreign aid more than six months ago, but was met with conservative opposition to Ukraine aid. However an unexpected turn from House Speaker Mike Johnson led the House to approve legislation over the weekend. with the Senate passing the package in a bipartisan vote Tuesday evening. Biden said in remarks from the White House: “It’s a good day for America, it’s a good day for Europe and it’s a good day for world peace. It’s going to make America safer, it’s going to make the world safer and it continues America’s leadership in the world and everyone knows it.”

The aid package, worth $95 billion in total, includes $60.8 billion in aid for Ukraine; $26.4 billion to support Israel, along with humanitarian aid for Gaza; and $8.1 billion for allies in the Indo-Pacific. The legislation also features provisions to allow the sale of frozen assets of Russian oligarchs, and a measure that could eventually lead to the ban of TikTok in the United States – giving Chinese parent company ByteDance roughly nine months to sell it or else it will be banned from app stores in the United States.

The Pentagon announced a new round of military aid for Ukraine worth roughly $1 billion, with the president adding that the U.S. would begin sending weapons and military equipment to Ukraine “in the next few hours. We are going to begin sending equipment to Ukraine for air defense munitions, for artillery, for rocket systems and armored vehicles.”

Editorial credit: Consolidated News Photos / Shutterstock.com

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it has discovered fragments of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) — more commonly referred to as bird flu — in some samples of dairy milk products.

An update from the FDA said they tested milk samples by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and found the presence of fragments of the virus, which is not the same as infectious virus and that findings “do not represent actual virus that may be a risk to consumers.” The FDA stated, “we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe” and expect new results from multiple studies “in the next few days to weeks. Based on available information, pasteurization is likely to inactivate the virus, however the process is not expected to remove the presence of viral particles.” The agency said it is continuing to investigate the outbreak, along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state partners.

The FDA’s statement continued: “Nearly all (99%) of the commercial milk supply that is produced on dairy farms in the U.S. comes from farms that participate in the Grade ‘A’ milk program and follow the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO), which includes controls that help ensure the safety of dairy products.

Avian influenza A(H5N1) virus, or bird flu, is a disease that’s caused by an avian influenza Type A virus infection, according to the CDC.  The virus has recently infected herds of dairy cows in several states, including Texas, Kansas and Michigan. Herds in New Mexico and Idaho are presumed infected.  Both the FDA and the USDA said the current commercial milk supply is safe because of the pasteurization process and the “diversion or destruction of milk from sick cows.”

Bird flu is very contagious among birds, and some of the viruses can sick or kill certain domesticated species, including chickens, ducks and turkeys. According to the CDC, the disease primarily spreads through contact with infected birds, which can infect their respiratory track and intestines. Infected birds can shed viruses in their saliva, nasal secretions and feces.

Editorial credit: grandbrothers / Shutterstock.com