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Today, McDonalds revealed its plans for a new menu item that will evoke memories of the past: The limited-edition McDonaldland Meal will hit the fast food eaterys menu later this month. McDonaldland, which the burger giant introduced in 1971, is the fictional world inhabited by popular McDonald’s characters, including Ronald McDonald, Grimace, Birdie, Hamburglar, Mayor McCheese, and the Fry Friends. The McDonaldland Meal comes with your choice of a Quarter Pounder with Cheese or 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, and includes fries, a limited-edition Mt. McDonaldland Shake, and a collectible souvenir. A specialty shake with a mystery flavor According to a news release, the Mt. McDonaldland shake is inspired by the vibrant blue lava and pink clouds of Mt. McDonaldland. The flavor of the shake has yet to be revealed (customers are meant to discover it for themselves), but its bright colors are clearly intended to make it social media friendly at a time when specialty drinks routinely go viral on TikTok. Each meal comes with one of six exclusive collectible tins inspired by the iconic McDonaldland characters and will include postcards and stickers. Jennifer “JJ” Healan, McDonalds VP of U.S. marketing, brand, content, and culture, explained in a statement that the collectibles are meant to introduce younger customers to McDonaldland lore. “Over the past few years, we’ve seen how fans flock to our characters, everyone from Grimace to the Hamburglar,” Healan said. “But many, especially the new generation, don’t know that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s an entire magical world of McDonaldland filled with characters, places, and lore.” The meal will be available at participating McDonald’s locations while supplies last, beginning on August 12. McDonalds hopes to attract more customers and boost sales This isnt the first time that McDonalds has tapped into nostalgiaand not even the first time in recent memory. Last month, the fast food brand revived its popular Snack Wrap. You can now order a Ranch Snack Wrap or Spicy Snack Wrap when you visit the Golden Arches. Fans had been begging McDonalds to bring back the menu item for years. In a June 3 news release, Joe Erlinger, president of McDonalds USA, shared, Its back. The fast food retailer has been getting creative as it looks for ways to attract more customers and increase sales. Tapping into nostalgia is one approach. Another has been to find ways to appeal to consumers who have tightened their spending amid economic uncertainty. Last year and into this year, McDonalds has leaned further into value-focused marketing. Its McValue Meal features meal deals that start at $5. The fast food company also features buy one, add one for $1 breakfast and lunch items. McDonalds is expected to release its second-quarter earnings on Wednesday. Three months ago, the restaurant chain reported a 3.6% decline in U.S. comparable sales, its largest drop since the pandemic.
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YouTube videos that won’t load. A visit to a popular independent media website that produces only a blank page. Cellphone internet connections that are down for hours or days.Going online in Russia can be frustrating, complicated and even dangerous.It’s not a network glitch but a deliberate, multipronged and long-term effort by authorities to bring the internet under the Kremlin’s full control. Authorities adopted restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that won’t comply. Technology has been perfected to monitor and manipulate online traffic.While it’s still possible to circumvent restrictions by using virtual private network apps, those are routinely blocked, too.Authorities further restricted internet access this summer with widespread shutdowns of cellphone internet connections and adopting a law punishing users for searching for content they deem illicit.They also are threatening to go after the popular WhatsApp platform while rolling out a new “national” messaging app that’s widely expected to be heavily monitored.President Vladimir Putin urged the government to “stifle” foreign internet services and ordered officials to assemble a list of platforms from “unfriendly” states that should be restricted.Experts and rights advocates told The Associated Press that the scale and effectiveness of the restrictions are alarming. Authorities seem more adept at it now, compared with previous, largely futile efforts to restrict online activities, and they’re edging closer to isolating the internet in Russia.Human Rights Watch researcher Anastasiia Kruope describes Moscow’s approach to reining in the internet as “death by a thousand cuts.”“Bit by bit, you’re trying to come to a point where everything is controlled.” Censorship after 2011-12 protests Kremlin efforts to control what Russians do, read or say online dates to 2011-12, when the internet was used to challenge authority. Independent media outlets bloomed, and anti-government demonstrations that were coordinated online erupted after disputed parliamentary elections and Putin’s decision to run again for president.Russia began adopting regulations tightening internet controls. Some blocked websites; others required providers to store call records and messages, sharing it with security services if needed, and install equipment allowing authorities to control and cut off traffic.Companies like Google or Facebook were pressured to store user data on Russian servers, to no avail, and plans were announced for a “sovereign internet” that could be cut off from the rest of the world.Russia’s popular Facebook-like social media platform VK, founded by Pavel Durov long before he launched the Telegram messaging app, came under the control of Kremlin-friendly companies. Russia tried to block Telegram between 2018-20 but failed.Prosecutions for social media posts and comments became common, showing that authorities were closely watching the online space.Still, experts had dismissed Kremlin efforts to rein in the internet as futile, arguing Russia was far from building something akin to China’s “Great Firewall,” which Beijing uses to block foreign websites. Ukraine invasion triggers crackdown After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the government blocked major social media like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as Signal and a few other messaging apps. VPNs also were targeted, making it harder to reach restricted websites.YouTube access was disrupted last summer in what experts called deliberate throttling by authorities. The Kremlin blamed YouTube owner Google for not maintaining its hardware in Russia. The platform has been wildly popular in Russia, both for entertainment and for voices critical of the Kremlin, like the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny.Cloudflare, an internet infrastructure provider, said in June that websites using its services were being throttled in Russia. Independent news site Mediazona reported that several other popular Western hosting providers also are being inhibited.Cyber lawyer Sarkis Darbinyan, founder of Russian internet freedom group Roskomsvoboda, said authorities have been trying to push businesses to migrate to Russian hosting providers that can be controlled.He estimates about half of all Russian websites are powered by foreign hosting and infrastructure providers, many offering better quality and price than domestic equivalents. A “huge number” of global websites and platforms use those providers, he said, so cutting them off means those websites “automatically become inaccessible” in Russia too.Another concerning trend is the consolidation of Russia’s internet providers and companies that manage IP addresses, according to a July 30 Human Rights Watch report.Last year, authorities raised the cost of obtaining an internet provider license from 7,500 rubles (about $90) to 1 million rubles (over $12,300), and state data shows that more than half of all IP addresses in Russia are managed by seven large companies, with Rostelecom, Russia’s state telephone and internet giant, accounting for 25%.The Kremlin is striving “to control the internet space in Russia, and to censor things, to manipulate the traffic,” said HRW’s Kruope. Criminalizing ‘extremist’ searches A new Russian law criminalized online searches for broadly defined “extremist” materials. That could include LGBTQ+ content, opposition groups, some songs by performers critical of the Kremlin and Navalny’s memoir, which was designated as extremist last week.Right advocates say it’s a step toward punishing consumers not just providers like in Belarus, where people are routinely fined or jailed for reading or following certain independent media outlets.Stanislav Seleznev, cyber security expert and lawyer with the Net Freedom rights group, doesn’t expect ubiquitous prosecutions, since tracking individual online searches in a country of 146 million remains a tall order. But even a limited number of cases could scare many from restricted content, he said.Another major step could be blocking WhatsApp, which monitoring service Mediascope said had over 97 million monthly users in April.WhatsApp “should prepare to leave the Russian market,” said lawmaker Anton Gorelkin, and a new “national” messenger, MAX, developed by social media company VK, would take its place. Telegram probably won’t be restricted, he said.MAX, promoted as a one-stop shop for messaging, online government services, making payments and more, was rolled out for beta tests but has yet to attract a wide following. Over 2 million people registered by July, the Tass news agency reported.Its terms and conditions say it will share user data with authorities upon request, and a new law stipulates its preinstallation in all smartphones sold in Russia. State institutions, officials and businesses are actively encouraged to move communications and blogs o MAX.Anastasiya Zhyrmont of the Access Now digital rights group said both Telegram and WhatsApp were disrupted in Russia in July in what could be a test of how potential blockages would affect internet infrastructure.It wouldn’t be uncommon. In recent years, authorities regularly tested cutting off the internet from the rest of the world, sometimes resulting in outages in some regions.Darbinyan believes the only way to make people use MAX is to “shut down, stifle” every Western alternative. “But again, habits do not change in a year or two. And these habits acquired over decades, when the internet was fast and free,” he said.Government media and internet regulator Roskomnadzor uses more sophisticated methods, analyzing all web traffic and identifying what it can block or choke off, Darbinyan said.It’s been helped by “years of perfecting the technology, years of taking over and understanding the architecture of the internet and the players,” as well as Western sanctions and companies leaving the Russian market since 2022, said Kruope of Human Rights Watch.Russia is “not there yet” in isolating its internet from the rest of the world, Darbinyan said, but Kremlin efforts are “bringing it closer.” Dasha Litvinova, Associated Press
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Nations kicked off a meeting on Tuesday to try to complete a landmark treaty aimed at ending the plastic pollution crisis that affects every ecosystem and person on the planet.It’s the sixth time negotiators are meeting and they hope the last. A key split is whether the treaty should require cutting plastic production, with powerful oil-producing nations opposed; most plastic is made from fossil fuels. They say redesign, recycling and reuse can solve the problem, while other countries and some major companies say that’s not enough.Luis Vayas Valdivieso, the chair of the negotiating committee that aims to develop a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, said: “We are pretty sure nobody wants plastic pollution. Still, we have not been able to find a systematic and an effective way to stop it.” An opportunity to ‘ end plastic pollution’ Valdivieso believes the 10-day gathering in Geneva can be groundbreaking.“For the first time in history, the world is within our reach of a legally binding international instrument to end plastic pollution,” said Valdivieso, who is also Ecuador’s ambassador to Britain. “We are facing a global crisis. Plastic pollution is damaging ecosystems, polluting our oceans and rivers, threatening biodiversity, harming human health and unfairly impacting the most vulnerable. The urgency is real.” Only a treaty can mobilize the necessary global action, said Angelique Pouponneau, lead ocean negotiator for 39 small island and low-lying coastal developing states. At home in the Seychelles, Pouponneau said, plastic contaminates the fish they eat, piles up on beaches and chokes the ocean to undermine tourism and their way of life.“It’s the world’s final opportunity to get this done and to get it done right,” she said. “It would be a tragedy if we didn’t live up to our mandate.”United Nations Environment Programme Executive Director Inger Andersen said the issues are complex, but the crisis is “really spiraling” and there’s a narrow pathway to a treaty. She said many countries agree on redesigning plastic products to be recycled and improving waste management, for example.“We need to get a solution to this problem. Everybody wants it. I’ve yet to meet somebody who is in favor of plastic pollution,” Andersen said.Between 19 million and 23 million tons of plastic waste leak into aquatic ecosystems annually, which could jump 50% by 2040 without urgent action, according to the UN. Sharp disagreements on whether to limit plastic production In March 2022, 175 nations agreed to make the first legally binding treaty on plastics pollution by the end of 2024. It was to address the full life cycle of plastic, including production, design and disposal.Talks last year in South Korea were supposed to be the final round, but they adjourned in December at an impasse over cutting production. Every year, the world makes more than 400 million tons of new plastic, and that could grow by about 70% by 2040 without policy changes.About 100 countries want to limit production as well as tackle cleanup and recycling. Many have said it’s essential to address toxic chemicals.Panama led an effort in South Korea to address production in the treaty. Negotiator Debbra Cisneros said they’ll do so again in Geneva because they strongly believe in addressing pollution at the source, not just through downstream measures like waste management.“If we shy away from that ambition now, we risk adopting an agreement that is politically convenient, but environmentally speaking, is ineffective,” she said.About 300 businesses that are members of the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty companies such as Walmart, the Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, and L’Oréal support reducing production along with increasing recycling and reuse. The coalition includes major food and beverage companies and retailers who want an effective, binding treaty with global rules to spare them the headaches of differing approaches in different countries.Some plastic-producing and oil and gas countries firmly oppose production limits. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter of one common type of plastic, has led that group in asserting there should be no problem producing plastic if the world addresses plastic pollution. US position on the treaty The U.S. doesn’t support global production caps or bans on certain plastic products or chemical additives to them.The State Department says it supports provisions to improve waste collection and management, improve product design and drive recycling, reuse and other efforts to cut the plastic dumped into the environment.“If the negotiations are to succeed, the agreement must be aimed at protecting the environment from plastic pollution, and the agreement should recognize the importance plastics play in our economies,” the State Department said in a statement to The Associated Press.That’s similar to the views of the plastics industry, which says that a production cap could have unintended consequences, such as raising the cost of plastics, and that chemicals are best regulated elsewhere.China, the United States and Germany lead the global plastics trade by exports and imports, according to the Plastics Industry Association. How high will negotiators aim? For any proposal to make it into the treaty, every nation must agree. Some countries want to change the process so decisions may be made by a vote if necessary. India, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait and others have opposed that, arguing that consensus is vital to an effective treaty.Negotiators are discussing making some provisions opt-in or opt-out to avoid a stalemate. Bjorn Beeler, international coordinator for the International Pollutants Elimination Network, said that would mean a treaty without teeth or obligations, with little value. Cisneros said that if carefully crafted, it’s an option to find some common ground.Tracey Campbell, an executive vice president at the plastics and chemicals company LyondellBasell and vice chair of the executive committee of the World Plastics Council, said she’ll ask negotiators to “find a way to agree on a few things and get started” and then build from there.She suggested tackling things like product redesign, recycled content mandates and financing waste collection, waste sorting and recycling technologies.In contrast, Greenpeace will be in Genevacalling for at least a 75% reduction in plastic production by 2040.“We will never recycle our way out of this problem,” said Graham Forbes, who leads the Greenpeace delegation. Thousands of people participating Delegates from most countries, the plastics industry and businesses that use plastics, environmentalists, scientists, Indigenous leaders and communities affected by plastic pollution are in Geneva. About 80 government ministers are attending talks that will last 10 days the longest session yet, with adjournment scheduled for Aug. 14.Frankie Orona, executive director of the Texas-based Society of Native Nations, has been to every negotiating session. Indigenous land, water and air are being contaminated as fossil fuels are extracted and plastic is manufactured using hazardous chemicals, said Orona.“We feel we absolutely have to be present to let them know, and see, who are the people that are really being impacted by the plastics crisis,” he said. 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. Jennifer McDermott, Associated Press
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