By Humeyra Pamuk, Stephanie Kelly and Jarrett Renshaw
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump, faced with mounting anger in the farm belt over policies that allow oil refineries to use less corn-based ethanol, summoned Cabinet members on Thursday to discuss ways to boost biofuel demand, four sources familiar with the matter said.
Throughout his 2016 campaign that brought him to power, Trump championed ethanol but also courted the oil industry.
Severe Weather Switches to the Mid-Atlantic
Thursday saw a widespread area of severe weather extending across the Central Plains into the Mid-Atlantic.
By Friday, the chances of severe weather will have shrunk to just a small portion of the coastal regions of North Carolina and Virginia where powerful rain, wind, and hail will all be possible.
For the Northeast and Midwest, Friday will be one of the most comfortable and enjoyable days of the summer with sunshine and temperatures in the mid-70s forecast for most locations.
As Amazon Burns, Brazil's Bolsonaro Tells Rest of World Not to Interfere
By Anthony Boadle and Stephen Eisenhammer
BRASILIA/SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Amid growing international criticism over the wildfires raging through the Amazon, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday admitted farmers could be illegally setting the rainforest ablaze but told foreign powers not to interfere.
French President Emmanuel Macron and United Nations Secretary General António Guterres both took to Twitter to express concern about the fires that have reached a record number this year, devastating vast swathes of forest considered a vital bulwark against climate change.
Trump Campaign Seeks to Mobilize Women in 2020 Battleground States
By Jarrett Renshaw
(Reuters) - President Donald Trump's re-election campaign is hosting events in 2020 battleground states on Thursday to mobilize and train suburban women, an important voting bloc that defected from Republicans during last year's congressional contests.
The campaign representatives - who include conservative commentators, a former "Apprentice" contestant, a beauty pageant winner and campaign and White House staff - will try to persuade women to talk openly about their support for Trump and encourage others to do the same.
MIT Sets Review of Donations, Apologizes for Jeffrey Epstein Ties
By Joseph Menn
(Reuters) - Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Rafael Reif said on Thursday that the elite university would review its process for accepting donations after taking about $800,000 from foundations controlled by financier Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide earlier this month while being held in jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
In a letter to MIT affiliates, Reif said all the money received from foundations controlled by Epstein had gone to the MIT Media Lab or Professor Seth Lloyd.
Bernie Sanders Proposes $16.3 Trillion Green New Deal Plan
By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON, August 22 (Reuters) - Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders unveiled a climate change strategy on Thursday that would mobilize $16.3 trillion to help the U.S. generate 100% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030 and achieve "full decarbonization" by 2050.
The plan would "launch a decade of the Green New Deal," a 10-year federal "mobilization" that would factor climate change into every policy action from immigration to foreign policy while promising to create 20 million jobs in the process.
Saudi Women Start Exercising Their Newest Right
By Stephen Kalin
RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's international airports are the scene of the latest "first" for women citizens, who can now leave the country without permission from a male relative as the kingdom chips away at its heavily criticized guardianship system.
Salma, a 40-year-old mother of three, travels abroad regularly with authorization from her legal guardian - formerly her then-husband and now her father.
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