user: U.S. resumes some weapons sales to Bahrain
The United States is loosening some of its restrictions on weapons sales to Bahrain, a Persian Gulf ally that has grappled with massive protests pushing for greater democracy.

“We have made the decision to release additional items to Bahrain, mindful of the fact that there are a number of serious unresolved human rights issues that the government of Bahrain needs to address,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Friday.

But the U.S. move has upset rights activists, who say the country is still attacking and abusing dissidents.

The U.S. froze its weapons sales to Bahrain in October over human rights concerns. Nuland said the U.S. was still withholding antitank missiles and Humvees, along with “certain additional items for the Bahrain Defense Force,” stressing that the newly released items “are not used for crowd control."

The Bahraini crown prince met with U.S. officials this week. Nuland did not specify what would be sold to Bahrain, but Bloomberg News reported that the equipment includes air-to-air missiles and ammunition.

Bahraini dissidents and rights groups say the government has not done enough to meet the demand for reforms in the island nation, continuing to jail and harass protesters. Government loyalists counter that protesters have hurled Molotov cocktails at police and blame Iran for stirring up trouble.

The unrest has left the United States open to accusations that although it has championed other "Arab Spring" uprisings, it has been less aggressive in backing calls for change in Bahrain, a strategic ally. The nonprofit Human Rights First slammed Friday's announcement.

"Where is the progress that warrants the reward of arms?" its human rights director, Brian Dooley, asked in a statement. "This new sale will only damage U.S. credibility among those working for democracy in Bahrain and across the Middle East.”

Nuland insisted the U.S. was concerned about excessive force by police. “We urge all sides to work together to end the violence and refrain from incitement of any kind, including attacks on peaceful protesters or on the Bahraini police,” she said.

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-- Emily Alpert in Los Angeles
Please write a summary below.
The United States is loosening some of its restrictions on weapons sales to Bahrain, a Persian Gulf ally that has grappled with massive protests pushing for greater democracy. The move upset human rights activists who say the country is still attacking and abusing dissidents.


Q: Plan to rear flies on industrial scale for making fish food

Food for fish: live fly larva at the fly factory in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Photograph: Jenny Goldhawk-Smith/AFP/Getty Images

South Africa is building a massive insect-rearing factory where thousands of flies will be fattened on food industry leftovers – animal manure, blood and brains from abattoirs – to produce food for farmed fish that will ultimately be eaten by people.

When the factory opens in spring 2014, thousands of common houseflies, black soldier flies and bluebottles will be kept in large cages and plumped up on sugar, yeast and milk powder. Each female will lay around 750 eggs or more, some of which will be kept there to breed the next generation. The remaining eggs will be moved on to a waste conversion centre, where they will hatch into larvae and gorge themselves, multiplying their body weight almost 400 times in as little as three days.

"It's about cleaning up waste locally and making the food chain sustainable," says Jason Drew of Agriprotein, the company that conceived the project and will operate the $3.7m (£2.3m) plant, which will be located in Stellenbosch in the country's Western Cape province.

More than half of the world's fish is now farmed, and with the wild fish that acts as food on the decline, the price of that fishmeal has doubled in 30 years to up to $2,000 per ton. Each 1kg of farmed salmon requires 3kg of fishmeal, jumping to nearly 20kg for each 1kg of tuna.

"There's a real sweet spot of opportunity right now in making fishmeal more sustainable," says Drew.

For the past five years, Agriprotein and its research partner at Stellenbosch University, Dr Elsjep Pieterse, have been tinkering with breeding small batches of flies on organic waste. In the past 18 months they've proven the process can work on an industrial scale and in May won an innovation award of $100,000 for their efforts.

By October 2014, Drew aims to be taking in 110 tonnes of waste per day at the plant, and churning out 17 tonnes of wet larvae. That won't nearly meet the anticipated demand from local farmers and fish-farmers.

A second, larger factory is planned for opening before the end of 2014, and will consume 165 tonnes of waste per day and the third 210 tonnes per day. A third factory is planned for 2015, when Agriprotein will start to license the technology to as many as 30 other countries who could replicate facilities.

Feeding the gluttonous larvae could eventually become a challenge. "We're trying to find as much waste as possible," says Drew. One option they're exploring is feeding them human faeces.

In time, they hope the larvae will be consumed by people, in products such as oils, or in medicines. As for eating them directly, "they're safe, but tasteless," says Drew.
What are the most important parts of this text?

A: Flies will be fattened on organic waste in a factory to produce larvae feed for farmed fish


Power plus passion? VW pickup with a diesel V8

A VW pickup with a diesel V8?

No, Volkswagen doesn’t make one, but German tuning house MTM Performance has, according to Motor Authority.

The V8 Passion is a custom version of VW’s not-for-U.S.-sale Amarok midsize pickup stuffed with a 410 hp, 686 lb-ft of torque 4.2-liter diesel V8.

The company says the engine “fits like a glove” under the hood, and retains the 8-speed automatic transmission from the standard Amarok, which usually gets by with four-cylinder gas and diesel engines.

The result is a not so heavy hauler that can get from zero to 60 mph in six seconds, and hit a top speed of 138 mph.

As a one-off project, no price is mentioned, but MTM will surely cobble one together for you if you like, as long as you live somewhere that VW sells the Amarok.

While that’s not on the docket for the U.S. anytime soon, a VW official did say recently that the automaker needs a pickup truck in the United States.

If that happens, you can almost be certain it will have a V8 under the hood, and with diesel pickups on the way from Ram, GM and Nissan, it’s likely any truck parked next to a Jetta TDI would have one, too.

Summary:

assistant: Pickup with a very German accent.