HOT POINT

USDA to release flies near US-Mexico border to fight screwworm pest

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture will disperse glow-in-the dark, sterile flies in Mexico, closer to the U.S. border, and in southern Texas, as officials race to keep flesh-eating New World screwworm pests from spreading in Mexico, the agency said.

Screwworms are parasitic flies whose females lay eggs in wounds on warm-blooded animals, often livestock. Once the eggs hatch, hundreds of screwworm larvae ‌use their sharp mouths to burrow through living flesh, eventually killing their host if left untreated.

The USDA has halted U.S. imports of Mexican livestock to keep out the pest, worsening a cattle ‌shortage that has pushed beef prices to record highs for consumers.

The agency also produces 100 million sterile flies per week at a facility in Panama and disperses them in Mexico to prevent wild screwworm flies from reproducing. Now, the agency says, it is going to take the same flies further north near the border.

The shift came after the USDA has reported 20 screwworm infestations since December 26 in animals in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, which borders southern Texas.

"Given that we need to protect ⁠Texas and the U.S., I think it's definitely something ‌that had to be done," Sonja Swiger, an entomologist at Texas A&M University, said on Monday.

MORE STERILE FLIES NEEDED

Experts said the USDA needs well more than 100 million sterile flies per week to eradicate the pest in Mexico. The agency announced ‍last year that it intended to build a production facility in Texas, but that could still be at least a year away from opening. Last month, the agency said it would spend up to $100 million on other projects that aim to boost sterile fly production and help fight screwworm.

For now, the USDA will start releasing sterile flies north of where Mexico has reported active cases to attempt to create a "buffer zone" to halt the pest if it continues moving north, according to a statement ‌issued late on Friday. The new dispersal area will include operations about 50 miles into Texas, along the U.S. border with the state of Tamaulipas, according to the USDA.

The northernmost active case in Mexico was about 200 miles away from the U.S. border, and cases have continued to spread in Tamaulipas and further south in Mexico, said Dudley Hoskins, a USDA under secretary.

"Our highest priority is protecting the United States from screwworm," he said in the agency's statement.

GLOWING FLIES

The USDA said it would apply fluorescent dye to sterile flies before they hatch so officials can distinguish them from wild flies that pose a threat. The sterile ⁠flies will glow under ultraviolet light and may also be visible to the naked eye, the agency said.

The U.S. decision to direct the release of sterile flies toward the border region was consistent with technical proposals Mexico has been making since November 2025, Mexico's government said in a statement.

The U.S. eliminated screwworms in the 20th century by flying planes over hotspots to drop boxes packed with sterile flies.

"They're pretty effective as long as ‍you can outnumber the population," said Max ⁠Scott, an entomology professor at North Carolina State University.

Screwworm can be detected in new areas when livestock are transported from an infested region. However, rising cases in Tamaulipas signal a local population of flies has likely started to establish there, experts said.

Unseasonably cold weather in Texas could temporarily ⁠help prevent the pest's movement, Tyson Foods COO Devin Cole said on an earnings call. The meatpacker's beef business has bled money as tight cattle supplies have raised costs.

"We don't really have ‌anything that would give us any insight as to when the government would open the border," Cole said.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek in ‌Chicago. Additional reporting by Cassandra Garrison in Buenos Aires; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

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USDA to release flies near US-Mexico border to fight screwworm pest

By Tom Polansek CHICAGO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture will disperse glow-in-the dark, st...

Costco Recalls Beignets After a Major Labeling Error

If you're a Costco shopper and you have serious food allergies in your household, you'll want to be aware of the warehouse chain's latest recall. One of the store's popular bakery items has had its labels mixed up, which could lead to a dangerous situation,according to a recall letter posted to Costco's recall website. Here's everything you need to know about the recall.

A plastic container holds 24 powdered sugar-coated round doughnuts. A hand on the right side is reaching to pick up one of the doughnuts.

What's Wrong with the Recalled Costco Bakery Items?

Costco just brought back its mini beignets in the bakery, and they've been sold with the wrong label.

According to the Costco recall letter, mini beignets that were filled with chocolate hazelnut spread were labeled as being filled with caramel instead. That means the allergen information on the labels was incorrect, which could lead to some people with serious nut allergies consuming the beignets filled with hazelnuts by accident. The mislabeled mini beignets contain tree nuts, a serious allergen that would normally be noted on the packaging.

A clear plastic container of Kirkland Signature mini caramel beignets with a white label listing ingredients, allergens, and price. The sell-by date is Feb 01, 2026, and the package contains 22 pieces for $9.99.

According to the recall letter sent to Costco members who purchased the product, people with tree nut allergies "run the risk of severe life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume this product."

How Do I Tell if My Beignets Were Recalled?

The recalled Costco beignets are labeled as Mini Beignets Filled with Caramel, which is item #1181272. They were sold between January 16 and 30, 2026, in 22 states:

Alabama
Arizona
California
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Iowa
Louisiana
Michigan
Missouri
Nevada
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
Virginia
Washington

If you purchased the recalled mini beignets, you probably have already gotten a letter from Costco. Some members are also reporting on Reddit that they have received a call from Costco alerting them of the recall as well.

"PSA I just received a call from Costco saying these were accidentally made with hazelnuts and that anyone with a nut allergy should not eat them,"explained one Costco member. Many others chimed in with the same experience.

What Should I Do if I Have the Recalled Beignets?

If you have a tree nut allergy and have purchased the recalled Costco Mini Beignets Filled with Caramel, do not eat them.

But because this is a labeling issue and not a problem with the beignets themselves, it should be OK to eat them as long as no one in your household has any allergies to any of the ingredients in the chocolate hazelnut filling. If there is any doubt, do not eat them, and do not give them to anyone else to eat.

Anyone who has purchased the recalled mini beignets can return them to Costco for a full refund.

Costco Recalls Beignets After a Major Labeling Error

If you're a Costco shopper and you have serious food allergies in your household, you'll want to be aware of the ...

Laura Fernandez, Costa Rica's next president, aims to keep on populist path

By Alvaro Murillo and Alexander Villegas

SAN JOSE, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Laura Fernandez will be Costa Rica's next president, pushing forward with a populist mandate set by her predecessor that includes promises of constitutional reforms and the suspension of civil liberties to fight crime at a time of surging drug violence.

Fernandez, 39, built her career as a political adviser ‌and civil servant at Costa Rica's Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy, where current President Rodrigo Chaves appointed her minister in 2022.

A fierce supporter of Chaves, Fernandez ‌went on to be his chief of staff, before launching her own campaign for president.

Lawmaker Pilar Cisneros, who leads the government's faction in Congress and is seen as a key figure in Chaves' rise to power, said a group of about 10 people close to Chaves, including the president, hand-picked Fernandez.

"Few people know the state like she does — she knows where the knots are," Cisneros said.

Known for her theatrical speaking style and ⁠taste for dancing that she often shows off ‌at campaign rallies, Fernandez was born in Esparza in the coastal province of Puntarenas, and grew up in the capital of San Jose.

She is married with a young daughter and is a conservative Catholic with a ‍strong family message, which has helped her attract support from the country's growing evangelical groups.

She has spoken of her admiration for El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, known for his hard-line approach to crime and gangs, and has said she would enact states of emergency in high-crime areas that would limit civil liberties. She has also vowed to finish building a high-security penitentiary modeled after El Salvador's CECOT mega prison.

Bukele congratulated Fernandez on her ‌win late on Sunday, and on Monday morning, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington looked forward to working closely with her administration.

Opponents during the election campaign accused Fernandez of being a "puppet" for Chaves and questioned her autonomy. In her first press conference after winning the vote, on Monday, Fernandez said the doors of her next cabinet were "wide open" for Chaves.

"The one who is going to govern is her — she will be the president — but she would be foolish not to show she has Don Rodrigo's backing. She is loyal to ⁠our political project," Cisneros said.

Flanked by supporters in San Jose after declaring victory on Sunday, Fernandez promised a new era of politics in Costa Rica.

"Change will be deep and irreversible," Fernandez said, announcing that the Central American nation was entering a new political era.

Costa Rica's second republic, which began after the 1948 civil war, "is a thing of the past," she said. "It's up to us ‍to build the third republic."

Fernandez will ⁠be Costa Rica's second female president after Laura Chinchilla, who governed from 2010 to 2014. Since leaving office, Chinchilla has taken on a number of roles at international organizations and universities and become a vocal opponent of the governments in Venezuela ⁠and Nicaragua.

She has also become one of the most outspoken critics of the current Costa Rican government and its political movement, saying it follows a "predictable script" of ‌other authoritarian leaders in the region. She has called Fernandez "rude and populist" and "a bad copy of the president."

(Reporting by Alvaro ‌Murillo and Alexander Villegas, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Lincoln Feast)

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Laura Fernandez, Costa Rica's next president, aims to keep on populist path

By Alvaro Murillo and Alexander Villegas SAN JOSE, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Laura Fernandez will be Costa Rica's ...

Winter Olympics 2026: How does curling work?

Curling, which first became an organized sport in Scotland, traces its roots to the 1500s. Historians say paintings from the time depict people sliding rocks across frozen ponds. It took a few centuries for the world to appreciate all that feverish sweeping, though: Curling made its Olympic debut in 1924 — but didn't return as an official competitive event until the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

Chances are if you didn't grow up in Canada (where curling is most popular), you may think of the sport as people in funny pants — we're lookin' at you, Norwegians — pushing an oversized puck across a skating rink.Au contraire.Curling requires finesse, strategy and serious athleticism — the sweeping can burn up to 500 calories per hour. And because players use their brains as much as their bodies, people call it "chess on ice."

A general view of the action during the Mixed Doubles Round Robin Curling Session on day two of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the National Aquatics Centre, Beijing, China. Picture date: Sunday February 6, 2022. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images)

Rules

For starters, players aim to guide heavy, granitestonesacross a sheet of textured ice toward a target area called thehousethat is split into four rings. (Consider curling a distant cousin of shuffleboard.) Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding the stones — also called "rocks" — toward the target. Each team has eight stones perend, which is curling's version of, say, a baseball inning. There are 10 ends in a tournament-style game.

This video shows the skill involved, from the movement the thrower uses to deliver the stone, to the sweepers trying to guide it where it needs to go in the target, aka the house.

The stone weighs 38 to 44 pounds. Players use brooms to smooth the ice and ease the stone's path toward the house. If a player breaks a rule — like nudging the stone with their shoe — they should be "the first to divulge the breach," according to the WCF. This sportsmanship expectation is part of what players call "the spirit of curling."

Scoring

The objective is simple: The team that lands the most stones closest to the bulls-eye wins.Players win a point for every stone that 1) lands in the house and 2) is closer to the "button" — or center of the house — than the closest opponent stone. (For example, if Team A has the closest stone and Team B has the second closest stone, Team A can only earn one point, even if the rest of Team B's stones somehow ended up outside of the curling arena.) Teams can knock an opponent's stone away from the house — and, through some vigorous sweeping, strategically place some stones as makeshift shields (guards) to protect others.

It is impossible, however, for both teams to score in an end, which last the amount of time it takes to throw all of the stones. Points are awarded only to the team that did better in each end. (Should a team tie, there are tie-breaker rounds.) The best possible score in an end is 8-0, which happens when one team gets all eight stones closer to the button than its opponent. This is called a "snowman" — curling slang for a perfect game.

Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa curls the stone during the women's gold medal game of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games curling competition between Japan and Great Britain at the National Aquatics Centre in Beijing on February 20, 2022. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP via Getty Images)

Fun fact: Curling may be the nicest sport of all

Objectively. After each game, the winners traditionally buy the other team a round of drinks. From the WCF website: "Curlers play to win, but never to humble their opponents. A true curler never attempts to distract opponents, nor to prevent them from playing their best, and would prefer to lose rather than to win unfairly."

Quick terminology

Bonspiel:A curling tournament.Circles:The round scoring area, 12 feet in diameter, with concentric circles 1, 4 and 8 feet in diameter.Curl:The rotating movement of a stone caused by turning the handle.Delivery:The act of throwing a rock.End:Similar to an inning in baseball; in an end, each team throws eight rocks, two per player in alternating fashion. Tournament-style games run for 10 ends.Front End:The lead and second player on a curling team.Heavy:A stone that is delivered with more than the desired amount of weight or force.House:The round scoring area, 12 feet in diameter, with concentric circles 1, 4, and 8 feet in diameter.Light:A stone that is delivered with less than the desired weight or force.Rink:A curling team that consists of four players: the skip, third (vice-skip), second, and lead. Also refers to the place where curling is played.Rock:Stone.Sheet:The 146-foot-long area of the ice on which the game is played.Skip:The player who calls the ice and determines the strategy. Almost always plays the last two rocks for his team (but may throw in a different order in some games.)Sweeping:Using a brush to polish the ice in an effort to alter the action of the rock.

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Winter Olympics 2026: How does curling work?

Curling, which first became an organized sport in Scotland, traces its roots to the 1500s. Historians say paintings from ...

WNBA, players' union meet for three hours in ongoing CBA negotiations

The WNBA and its players' association met on Monday to continueongoing negotiationstoward a new collective bargaining agreement.

The two sides reportedly talked face-to-face in New York City, the first such meeting in weeks. However, after three hours at the NBA's offices,WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumikedeclined to speak to the media about any developments as she left.

"No, we can't talk,"she said.WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert also attended Monday's meeting along with members of the labor relations committee andNew York and Liberty owners Clara Wu and Joe Tsai. From the player side, union vice president Alysha Clark, treasurer Brianna Turner and player representative Stefanie Dolson were in attendance as well.

Vice presidents andUnrivaled co-founders Napheesa Collier(travel issues) andBreanna Stewartdid not attend in person and participated virtually.Los Angeles Sparks guard and vice president Kelsey Plum, who was traveling with Collier, also attended via video call.

1. A'ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson had one of the best seasons in WNBA history and earned the top spot on our list. Wilson led the Aces to their third title in four years after sweeping nearly every major award in the calendar year. She earned her second WNBA scoring title, third Defensive Player of the Year award, an unprecedented fourth MVP and her second Finals MVP, becoming the first player in WNBA or NBA history to accomplish it all in a single season. Becky Hammon said it best: Wilson is "Everest. There is no one else around." Wilson isn't ready to be in the GOAT conversation just yet. "I still got a little bit more winning to do before you put me in that conversation. When you're compared to greats, when you're compared to legends, that means you're doing something right and I'm so grateful," she said after sweeping the Phoenix Mercury in the 2025 WNBA Finals.