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Mexico's president vowed not to back down in a dispute with the United States over a potential ban on imports of genetically modified corn.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s office announced it had called for consultations with Mexico over proposed rules that would ban GM corn for human consumption. Mexico has said it could eventually ban it for animal feed as well.

Mexico argues that GM corn could somehow harm the health of those who consume animals raised on it, though it has not yet presented any proof of such ill effects.

Mexico had previously appeared eager to avoid a major showdown with the United States on the corn issue. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said consultations continued, but suggested Mexico would still seek to implement some form of ban.

“We still have a month,” López Obrador said of the talks. “If there is no agreement, we'll go to a panel,” he said, referring to the dispute resolution mechanism under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, known as the USMCA.

“Because this is a very important issue for us,” the president said, adding “it is the health of our people.”

“No treaty in the world allows people to sell merchandise that damages health,” he said.

The U.S. trade representative’s office said the ban could “threaten to disrupt billions of dollars in agricultural trade.”

Mexico is the leading importer of U.S. corn, most of which is genetically modified. Almost all is fed to cattle, pigs and chickens in Mexico, which doesn’t grow enough feed corn to supply itself.

Mexico had previously softened its stance, but refused to completely drop talk of any ban.

In February, Mexico’s Economy Department issued new rules that dropped the date for substituting imports of GM feed corn. Some imported corn is also ground into meal for use in corn chips or other snacks.

Under a previous version of the rules, some U.S. growers worried a GM feed corn ban could happen as soon as 2024 or 2025.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Philippine transport groups launched a nationwide strike March 6 to protest a government program drivers fear would phase out traditional jeepneys, which have become a cultural icon, and other aging public transport vehicles.

Officials, however, braced with contingencies and deployed government vehicles to take stranded passengers in some areas. Other groups refused to join the weeklong strike that could keep more than 40,000 passenger jeepneys and vans off the streets in the Manila metropolis alone.

Protesting drivers and supporters held a noisy rally in suburban Quezon City in the capital region, then proceeded in a convoy to a government transport regulatory office to press their protest.

“We're calling on the public to support the transport strike in any way possible,” said Renato Reyes of the left-wing political alliance Bayan, which was backing the strike. “The inconvenience of the transport stoppage is temporary, but the loss of livelihood of drivers and operators would be long-term.”

At almost noon, Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista said no major transport disruption had been monitored. Other officials said government vehicles were deployed to carry commuters in some areas but did not immediately provide more details.

Morning rush-hour traffic was heavy as usual on major roads in Manila and nearby cities.

“There is no disruption except in a handful of routes in the national capital region,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s office said by noon, citing reports from law enforcers.

Bautista warned that protesting drivers who would resort to violence and coercion to stop passenger vehicles not joining the strike would face criminal charges.

The government transport modernization program, first launched in 2017, aims to replace dangerously dilapidated and old passenger jeepneys and vans with modern vehicles, which have safety features and conform with carbon emissions standards. Vehicle owners have to join transport cooperatives and corporations by year's end for better transport management.

Opponents say most poor drivers could not afford to purchase new passenger jeepneys even with promised government financial aid.

Others said the program would mean the demise of the gaudily decorated and brightly colored jeepneys, which have been regarded as Manila's “King of the Road” and a showcase of Philippine culture on wheels.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

With more lunar missions than ever on the horizon, the European Space Agency wants to give the moon its own time zone.

The agency said space organizations around the world are considering how best to keep time on the moon. The idea came up during a meeting in the Netherlands late last year, with participants agreeing on the urgent need to establish “a common lunar reference time," said the space agency's Pietro Giordano, a navigation system engineer.

"A joint international effort is now being launched towards achieving this," Giordano said in a statement.

For now, a moon mission runs on the time of the country that is operating the spacecraft. European space officials said an internationally accepted lunar time zone would make it easier for everyone, especially as more countries and even private companies aim for the moon and NASA gets set to send astronauts there.

NASA had to grapple with the time question while designing and building the International Space Station, fast approaching the 25th anniversary of the launch of its first piece.

While the space station doesn't have its own time zone, it runs on Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC, which is meticulously based on atomic clocks. That helps to split the time difference between NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, and the other partnering space programs in Russia, Japan and Europe.

The international team looking into lunar time is debating whether a single organization should set and maintain time on the moon, according to the European Space Agency.

There are also technical issues to consider. Clocks run faster on the moon than on Earth, gaining about 56 microseconds each day, the space agency said. Further complicating matters, ticking occurs differently on the lunar surface than in lunar orbit.

Perhaps most importantly, lunar time will have to be practical for astronauts there, noted the space agency's Bernhard Hufenbach. NASA is shooting for its first flight to the moon with astronauts in more than a half-century in 2024, with a lunar landing as early as 2025.

“This will be quite a challenge" with each day lasting as long as 29.5 Earth days, Hufenbach said in a statement. "But having established a working time system for the moon, we can go on to do the same for other planetary destinations.”

Mars Standard Time, anyone?

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Doctors, lawyers, celebrities: There's a new cosmetic surgery, of sorts, for which they're all signing up.

By that, we mean handing over money to hire a calligrapher for a fresh take on writing one's own name in cursive. With a pen or another writing implement. On paper.

A corner of TikTok, Instagram and other social media is dedicated to signature design, and it's keeping practitioners busy.

Priscilla Molina in Los Angeles does a minimum of 300 custom signatures a month, offering packages that include up to three ways to sign, limitless drafts or a new set of initials. She charges between $10 to $55, using the motto: “Where originality meets legacy.”

Molina said her Planet of Names clients include professionals and famous people in search of new ways to sign autographs, though her lips are sealed on the identities of high-profile signature seekers.

In general, Molina said, people come to her for signature makeovers for a simple reason: They're tired of the way they sign their names.

“They're not happy with their signatures. They don't relate to who they are. They don't give the message they want to convey to the world,” she said.

Molina and other signature doctors promise a range of styles. For Molina, that includes but is not limited to elegant, subtle, dramatic, sharp, classic, artistic, condensed, curvy, legible — or even illegible.

She and others offer templates and stencils, encouraging clients to practice their newfound John Hancocks, with results in a short couple of weeks if they put in the time.

Sonia Palamand in St. Louis, Missouri, began noodling with calligraphy in middle school. She drums up business on TikTok, charging $35 for three signatures while promoting herself in videos that have her designing free of charge for select commenters.

“It's a way for people to reinvent themselves. The way that you present yourself on the outside can affect how you see yourself on the inside. I think with signatures, it’s adding some intentionality,” she said. “It's also an artistic pursuit.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Europe's existing telecom networks aren't up to the job of handling surging amounts of internet data traffic, a top European Union official said as he defended a consultation on whether Big Tech companies should help pay for upgrades.

The telecom industry needs to reconsider its business models as it undergoes a “radical shift” fueled by a new wave of innovation such as immersive, data-hungry technologies like the metaverse, Thierry Breton, the European Commission's official in charge of digital policy, said at a major industry expo in Barcelona called MWC, or Mobile World Congress.

Breton's remarks came days after he announced a consultation on whether digital giants should help contribute to the billions needed to build the 27-nation bloc's future communications infrastructure, including next-generation 5G wireless and fiber-optic cable connections, to keep up with surging demand for digital data.

“Yes, of course, we will need to find a financing model for the huge investments needed," Breton said in a copy of a keynote speech at the MWC conference.

Telecommunications companies complain they have had to foot the substantial costs of building and operating network infrastructure only for big digital streaming platforms like Netflix and Facebook to benefit from the surging consumer demand for online services.

“The consultation has been described by many as the battle over fair share between Big Telco and Big Tech,” Breton said. “A binary choice between those who provide networks today and those who feed them with the traffic. That is not how I see things.”

Big Tech companies say consumers could suffer because they'd end up paying twice, with extra fees for their online subscriptions.

Breton denied that the consultation was an attack on Big Tech or that he was siding with telecom companies.

"I’m proposing a new approach," he later told reporters. Topics up for discussion include how much investment is needed and whether regulations need to be changed, he said.

“We will have zero taboo. Do we need to adapt it? Do we need to discuss who should pay for what? This is exactly what is the consultation today,” Breton said.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Dr. Seuss fans might find their hearts growing three sizes this coming holiday season with the release of a sequel to the 1957 classic children’s book “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”

The new book picks up one year after the original, and like the first, teaches a valuable lesson about the true spirit of the holiday, Dr. Seuss Enterprises and Random House Children’s Books announced.

The sequel entitled “How the Grinch Lost Christmas!” is not based on a newly discovered manuscript by Seuss — whose real name was Theodor Geisel — but was written and illustrated by an author and artist with previous experience in the Dr. Seuss universe.

“One of the most asked questions we receive from Seuss fans of all ages is ‘What do you think happened to the Grinch after he stole Christmas?’” said Alice Jonaitis, executive editor at Random House Children’s Books, in a statement.

The original Grinch book has sold nearly 10 million copies in North America alone and like other Seuss books has been translated into multiple languages. It was made into a 1966 animated TV special narrated by Boris Karloff, a 2000 live-action movie starring Jim Carrey and a computer-animated film in 2018 with Benedict Cumberbatch voicing the Grinch.

The new book, scheduled for release Sept. 5, is written by Alastair Heim and illustrated by Aristides Ruiz. Heim has written Seuss-themed books like “If I Ran Your School” and “I Am the Cat in the Hat.” Ruiz has illustrated the Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library books for more than two decades.

“All throughout writing the story, I couldn’t fully believe that I was actually getting to play in the amazing creative sandbox Dr. Seuss created all those decades ago,” Heim said in an email.

Working on the Grinch sequel was an awesome responsibility, Ruiz said via email.

“When I heard of the opportunity to be a part of this project, I jumped at the chance only to find that it was difficult and daunting to approach adding to or expanding such an esteemed and treasured part of the American Christmas canon,” he said.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.