LabFarm, the only company in Poland that produces lab-grown meat, will receive tens of millions of zlotys in government grants to expand its operations. The grant will help the company increase its capacity and “scaling up” production.
Founded in 2022, the company claims to produce “clean, genuine meat” that is “also safer (than traditional sources) as it is free of antibiotics and contaminants”. The main focus has been on chicken products, with chicken meatballs being introduced this year.
In short, lab-grown meat involves taking stem cells from animals and “growing” them into various meat products. The method has been praised by some who claim it is more environmentally friendly than today’s meat production, while many others have sharply criticized the method for, among other things, threatening the activities of traditional farmers. In Italy, for example, and in the state of Florida, lab-grown meat has been banned.
LabFarm will receive nine million Polish zlotys, equivalent to just over €2 million, in funding from the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBiR).
“Obtaining the grant means that LabFarm can implement a research plan consisting of increasing production capacity and scaling up production, optimising bioprocesses, working on proprietary recipes for nutrients, structuring the food product and increasing employment”, the authority writes according to Notes from Poland.
LabFarm also writes that it will use the grant to, among other things, increase the number of employees and create a prototype of soft animal feed, according to its Facebook page. The company also plans to expand its operations to sell products throughout Europe.
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During Trump’s inauguration ceremony yesterday, Elon Musk drew attention when he ended a speech with a gesture in which he clutched his chest and raised his arm upwards at an angle twice.
Outraged left-liberal media and opinion makers quickly accused Musk of making a “Nazi” salute – but he himself seems to be taking the storm of criticism in stride.
After a short speech in which Musk emphasized the importance of Trump’s election victory, he made a somewhat unusual gesture in which he first slapped his right hand across his chest and then extended it diagonally with an open hand. The gesture was repeated twice during his appearance.
Accusations quickly began to fly that the world’s richest man had made a “Hitler salute” – and several TV channels covering the ceremony chose to pause their regular coverage and instead focus on discussing the purpose of the arm gesture and whether it should be seen as “Nazi”, “fascist” or something else entirely.
“US billionaire Elon Musk appeared to make a Heil Hitler salute at the Washington DC Trump parade”, wrote the Jerusalem Post, for example, and the UK’s The Guardian claimed that “Elon Musk appears to make back-to-back fascist salutes“.
Within hours of Donald Trump taking the oath of office, billionaire Elon Musk gave the Nazi salute during his speech at an inauguration rally.
It was not an accident or a mistake, he did it twice.
However, the multi-billionaire himself does not seem to be particularly bothered by all the fuss, writing on X that his opponents “need better dirty tricks”.
“The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired”, he notes.
Somewhat unexpectedly, the tech mogul has also received support from the Jewish lobbying organization ADL, which tracks and monitors alleged anti-Semitic activity around the world.
“It seems that Elon Musk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge”, it said in a statement.
In the weeks leading up to Donald Trump’s inauguration as president, his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach has been transformed into a gathering place for some of the world’s most powerful and wealthy people.
In addition to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Sergey Brin, among others, have recently visited Trump’s private club, described as “a new center of power” in the United States.
According to Bloomberg’s review, six of the world’s richest people have visited Trump since his election win in November. Several of the visitors are longtime Trump allies, while others appear to be trying to build relationships with the president-elect.
Among the visitors is Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose private jet landed at Palm Beach International Airport on November 26. Meta has confirmed that Zuckerberg attended a dinner and met with members of Trump’s team.
Following this visit, the tech giant soon also announced its plans to remove fact-checking from its platforms and reduce censorship, decisions that are believed to have been made to make Trump more sympathetic to the company and its business.
Amazon’s founder and former richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, visited Trump in December. According to media reports, Amazon has since pledged to donate $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund and to fund a documentary about Melania Trump.
Vaccine lobbyist and multi-billionaire Bill Gates, former CEO of Microsoft, is another high-profile name who flew to Palm Beach in late December and confirmed he had a three-hour dinner with Trump.
Well, it seems that Gates’ visit to Mar-a-Lago went well. If anything, I’d say we may sooner see an Operation Warp Speed 2.0 than indictments. pic.twitter.com/D1IcUXZw2d
It is no secret that Elon Musk and Donald Trump have a very close relationship today, and the world’s richest man, who has been appointed the president’s chief efficiency officer, has visited Mar-a-Lago on more than a dozen occasions since the election win and spent several weeks there.
Other billionaires such as Sergey Brin (Google), Larry Ellison (Oracle), Gina Rinehart (Hancock Prospecting), and the Winklevoss twins (cryptocurrency) are also reported to have visited Mar-a-Lago in recent weeks to get a chance to talk one-on-one with the next President of the United States.
Other names on Bloomberg’s list include businessman Howard Lutnick, whom Trump has appointed Secretary of Commerce, biotech mogul Patrick Soon-Shiong, cryptocurrency pioneers the Winklevoss twins, and casino billionaire Tilman Fertitta.
Yesterday’s inauguration ceremony was also attended by a number of the world’s richest men – including Zuckerberg and Bezos. Many of the business leaders and tech moguls invited are also reported to have made significant contributions to Trump’s inauguration fund.
During yesterday’s inauguration speech, Trump presented a comprehensive vision for his upcoming presidential term.The speech focused heavily on themes such as “America First”, restoring our nation’s pride and sovereignty, and promising to make the country “greater than ever before”.
– We will be a nation like no other, full of compassion, courage and exceptionalism. Our power will stop all wars and bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has been angry, violent and totally unpredictable, the President declared.
A central part of Trump’s speech was about immigration and border security. He promised to declare a national emergency at the southern border and stop all illegal immigration. Trump plans to deport millions of “criminal aliens” and reinstate the “remain in Mexico” policy. He also promised to send troops to the border to stop what he called an “invasion” and classify drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
– I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, the President proclaimed.
– As Commander in Chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions, and that is exactly what I am going to do. We will do it at a level that nobody has ever seen before.
On the economic front, Trump promised to fight inflation and lower prices. He presented a protectionist trade policy with promises to impose tariffs on foreign goods to enrich American citizens. To manage these tariffs and duties, he plans to create a new agency called the External Revenue Service.
Promised to “take back” the Panama Canal
Energy and environmental policy was another key point in the speech. Trump promised to declare a national energy emergency and increase oil and gas exploration under the slogan “drill, baby, drill”. He plans to end the Green New Deal and repeal the electric vehicle mandate, signaling a significant change in the country’s environmental policy.
On domestic policy, Trump pledged to stop the politicization of the Justice Department where the authority is used as a weapon to fight dissent. He also promised to restore freedom of expression by ending government censorship. He advocated for a color-blind and merit-based social policy and promised to officially establish that there are only two genders: male and female.
On foreign policy, Trump made some controversial statements. He promised to “take back” the Panama Canal, although the details of this remained unclear. In an ambitious pledge, he also said that US astronauts would plant the flag on Mars during his presidency.
The president also unveiled some symbolic measures, such as renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and returning Mount Denali in Alaska to its former name of Mount McKinley.
“Proud and strong”
Throughout his speech, Donald Trump painted a picture of a US that had lost its way under the previous Biden administration, but would now regain its greatness. He described his vision of a “golden age” for America and repeatedly promised that the country would be respected and admired around the world again.
Trump’s speech was filled with powerful rhetoric and big promises. He laid out an agenda that, if implemented, would bring far-reaching changes to US domestic and foreign policy. From immigration and the economy to energy and foreign policy, Trump promised a radical reversal from the policies of the previous Biden administration.
In conclusion, Trump emphasized that his vision for America was one in which the country would stand strong, sovereign and proud. He called on the American people to unite behind his vision of making the US the greatest country in the world and pledged to lead the nation into what he described as the most successful era in its history.
– America will be respected again and admired again, including by people of religion, faith and goodwill. We will be prosperous. We will be proud. We will be strong, and we will win like never before. We will not be conquered. We will not be intimidated. We will not be broken, and we will not fail. From this day on, the United States of America will be a free, sovereign and independent nation.
Promised peace within 24 hours
While Trump may have promised more policies during the speech than any president-elect in the past, several previous promises were not mentioned. Just this week, for example, he promised to release all documents relating to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy – an assassination in which there has been speculation that US intelligence was involved.
Nor was there any mention of Russia or Ukraine during the inauguration speech – despite Trump’s earlier pledge to end the war within 24 hours of taking office.
A couple of weeks ago, however, the President suddenly announced that the situation in Ukraine is “much more complicated” than he had previously understood and that he now instead “hope” and “think” that the war will be over within six months. Instead of a quick peace, he also warned that the war could “escalate” further.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with over 228 million inhabitants, has officially joined BRICS as a partner country, the Brazilian presidency announced.The organization now has ten members and nine official partner countries.
The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday that Nigeria has now become the ninth official BRICS partner. The nation thus joins Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda and Uzbekistan.
“In exercising its pro tempore presidency of BRICS, the Brazilian government announces today, January 17, 2025, the formal admission of Nigeria as a partner country of the grouping”, reads a formal statement.
Nigeria the most populous country in Africa, becomes an associate state of the BRICS with 228 million inhabitants, one of the largest economies on the continent, 9th partner of the BRICS, together with Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan Cuba, Malaysia Thailand, Uganda and Uzbekistan pic.twitter.com/7vJ8AJ2uXg
In addition to the original five countries – Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa and China – Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia have recently become full members.
Among other things, the organization has stepped up efforts to develop an alternative payment system to reduce dependence on the US dollar. The initiative has faced opposition from US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to increase tariffs on member countries.
“Nigeria shares convergent interests with other members of BRICS. It plays an active role in strengthening South-South cooperation and in reforming global governance – issues that are top priorities during Brazil’s current presidency”, the official statement concludes.
