By MAURICIO SAVARESE and ISABEL DEBRE

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — As world leaders head to a second day of climate talks being hosted in Brazil, a major proposal to protect tropical forests worldwide is sure to be a major topic of discussion.

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Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Thursday sought to mobilize funding to halt the ongoing destruction of tropical rainforests and advance the many unmet promises made at previous summits.

He’s proposing a fund called the Tropical Forests Forever Facility that would pay 74 developing countries to keep their trees standing, using loans from wealthier nations and commercial investors. Financed by interest-bearing debt instead of donations, it aims to make it more lucrative for governments to keep their trees rather than cut them down.

The location where the proposal was announced and the talks are being held, Belem, is significant because the city is part of the Amazon rainforest, which is crucial in helping to regulate the climate.

Destroying rainforests makes money for cattle ranchers, miners and illegal loggers, but Brazil hopes to convince countries that preserving forests promises richer rewards for the entire world by absorbing huge amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that heats the planet when it’s released into the atmosphere.

As senior Brazilian officials walked reporters through the fund’s inner workings, Norway pledged $3 billion — the biggest commitment of the day — raising hopes for Lula’s ambitions to become a reality. Germany expected to follow on Friday when Lula meets Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Brazilian officials announced a total of $5.5 billion in pledges.

The fund’s rules call for 20% of the money to go to Indigenous peoples, who for millennia have managed and preserved lands. This year’s climate talks are expected to have a large presence of tribes, particularly from Brazil and surrounding countries.

But reduced participation in the summit revealed divisions among countries and focus on the many other things happening around the world. The leaders of the planet’s three biggest polluters, China, the United States and India, were absent from the preliminary gathering of world leaders ahead of the full climate talks, which begin next week.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres opened a gathering with harsh words for world powers who he said “remain captive to the fossil fuel interests, rather than protecting the public interest.”

Allowing global warming to exceed the key benchmark of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit), laid out in the 2015 Paris Agreement, would represent a “moral failure and deadly negligence,” Guterres said. He warned that “even a temporary overshoot will have dramatic consequences … every fraction of a degree higher means more hunger, displacement and loss.”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org

A 208-year-old publication that farmers, gardeners and others keen to predict the weather have relied on for guidance will be publishing for the final time.

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Farmers’ Almanac said Thursday that its 2026 edition will be its last, citing the growing financial challenges of producing and distributing the book in today’s “chaotic media environment.” Access to the online version will cease next month.

The Maine-based publication, not to be confused with the even older Old Farmer’s Almanac in neighboring New Hampshire, was first printed in 1818. For centuries it’s used a secret formula based on sunspots, planetary positions and lunar cycles to generate long-range weather forecasts.

The almanac also contains gardening tips, trivia, jokes and natural remedies, like catnip as a pain reliever or elderberry syrup as an immune booster. But its weather forecasts make the most headlines.

Both publications were among hundreds of almanacs that served a nation of farmers over two centuries ago. Most were regional publications and no longer exist.

“It is with a heavy heart that we share the end of what has not only been an annual tradition in millions of homes and hearths for hundreds of years, but also a way of life, an inspiration for many who realize the wisdom of generations past is the key to the generations of the future,” Editor Sandi Duncan said in a statement.

Readers, saddened to hear the news, posted online about how they used it in their families for generations as a guide to help them plant gardens and follow the weather.

In 2017, when Farmers’ Almanac reported a circulation of 2.1 million in North America, its editor said it was gaining new readers among people interested in where their food came from and who were growing fresh produce in home gardens. It developed followers online and sent a weekly email to readers in addition to its printed editions.

Many of these readers lived in cities, prompting the publication to feature skyscrapers as well as an old farmhouse on its cover.

The Farmers’ Almanac was founded by David Young in New Jersey before moving to Maine in 1955. The Old Farmer’s Almanac is believed to be the oldest continually published periodical in North America.

Among Farmers’ Almanac articles from the past is one urging folks to remember “old-fashioned neighborhoodliness” in the face of newfangled technology like cars, daily mail and telephones in 1923. Editors urged readers in 1834 to abandon tobacco and in 1850 promoted the common bean leaf to combat bedbugs.

The almanac had some forward-thinking advice for women in 1876, telling them to learn skills to avoid being dependent on finding a husband. “It is better to be a woman than a wife, and do not degrade your sex by making your whole existence turn on the pivot of matrimony,” it counseled.

By COLLIN BINKLEY, AP Education Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cornell University has agreed to pay $60 million and accept the Trump administration’s interpretation of civil rights laws in order to restore federal funding and end investigations into the Ivy League school.

Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff announced the agreement on Friday, saying it upholds the university’s academic freedom while restoring more than $250 million in research funding that the government withheld amid investigations into alleged civil rights violations.

The university agreed to pay $30 million directly to the U.S. government along with another $30 million toward research that will support U.S. farmers.

“This agreement revives that partnership, while affirming the university’s commitment to the principles of academic freedom, independence, and institutional autonomy that, from our founding, have been integral to our excellence,” Kotlikoff said in a statement.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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MANZANITA, Ore. (AP) — A woman was walking her dogs on an Oregon beach when she saw a small shark struggling.

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It was lucky timing for the salmon shark, which was suffocating in a low tide area near the shoreline.

“I was essentially nervous about touching it at all,” Colleen Dunn, wrote in a text message Wednesday. “I have three kids so I didn’t wanna put myself in a dangerous position.”

At first, she thought it was a baby great white.

Dunn called her husband at an office at Nehalem Bay State Park for advice, but got no answer. So, with her dogs waiting patiently, she grabbed the 3-foot shark by the tail and rushed it to deeper water while taking a video of it on her phone.

The shark was able to push water through its gills once again, and then swam out of view.

Dunn says she posted about the encounter last month on a local social media group, and nobody reported the shark washing back up on shore. She used to live in Hawaii and recently moved her family to Manzanita, Oregon, near the park where she saw the shark. The ocean and the creatures in it give her a sense of belonging, she said.

In this screenshot taken from video provided by Colleen Dunn, Dunn carries a beached salmon shark on an Oregon beach back into the ocean near Portland, Ore., Oct. 2025. (Colleen Dunn via AP)

“I’ve lived in other places across the Pacific, and the ocean has always been my grounding place. Being engaged with it, watching the tides, noticing the wildlife, even stepping in when a creature needs help keeps me present and humble,” Dunn said.